Santiago Acosta Álvarez

Practice Areas

Investigations & Compliance

Career

Santiago Acosta Álvarez is Counsel at Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez and a member of our Investigations & Compliance practice. Moreover, Santiago is frequently involved in conducting complex international anti-corruption and white-collar investigations, having substantial experience across both compliance and investigations.

Prior to joining the Firm, Santiago served as Director of the White-Collar Crimes Investigation Division at the Federal Fiscal Prosecutor’s Office (Procuraduría Fiscal de la Federación), which is part of the Federal Ministry of the Treasury (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público). While serving at Mexico’s Ministry of Treasury, he acted as the leading prosecutor in the first oral hearing (audiencia de juicio oral) held for the commission of a white-collar crime, where he successfully achieved the indictment of the three individuals.

In 2018, Santiago attended the “Joint GAFILAT / FATF Assessor Training”, held at Santiago, Chile, where he was considered by the FATF Secretariat as a suitable candidate assessor for future mutual evaluations, in representation of the Mexican Government. Additionally, he participated in numerous workshops and seminars on financial investigation techniques imparted by the U.S. Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service.

In addition to his professional experience at Mexico’s Ministry of the Treasury, Santiago worked at a major Mexican corporate law firm and in a renowned criminal litigation law firm for more than five years.

In 2023, Santiago was ranked as an “Associate to Watch” by Chambers and Partners, and recognized by The Legal 500 as a “Rising Star” for the third consecutive time. Likewise, last year Santiago was selected by his peers to appear in 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in Mexico for his high caliber work in Corporate Governance and Compliance Practice.

Santiago studied at the Universidad Iberoamericana and obtained his Law Degree (JD) and professional license (cédula profesional) from Mexico’s Ministry of Education in 2012. Additionally, Santiago holds a master’s degree in criminal procedure law.

His native language is Spanish and he is fluent in English.