LAWYER PROFILE
Teresa Goody Guillén

Teresa Goody Guillén

USA 2026

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Ranked in 1 practice area

Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations

District of Columbia

1 year ranked

About

Provided by BELLEMENTIS PLLC

USA

Career

Teresa Goody Guillén is the founding Managing Partner of Bellementis PLLC. Her practice spans securities, litigation, investigations, and corporate matters, with a particular focus on financial markets, digital assets, and emerging technologies. She has spent her career representing the firms, founders, and individuals at the leading edge of capital and crypto markets, including public and private companies, financial institutions, investment managers, boards of directors, and corporate officers in complex financial, disclosure, and corporate governance matters.

Ms. Goody Guillén represents clients in sensitive enforcement matters, internal and independent investigations, and disputes involving disclosure, governance, and regulatory risk. She has obtained favorable resolutions for executives and companies in SEC, DOJ, CFTC, FBI, and Congressional investigations and other government inquiries, including civil and criminal matters and in the context of traditional and digital assets.

Since 2015, a significant portion of her practice involves advising clients at the intersection of federal securities laws and digital asset markets. She represents issuers, trading platforms, investment funds, and other market participants in matters involving token offerings, market structure, and the regulatory classification of digital assets, and counsels on engagement with the SEC, CFTC, and other authorities in connection with emerging financial technologies.

Ms. Goody Guillén also conducts independent investigations for boards of directors and senior management and has served in roles involving matters overseen by the SEC and FINRA, including large-scale institutional reviews of investment firms and financial intermediaries. Her matters frequently involve significant regulatory exposure and reputational risk, particularly in rapidly evolving markets where legal frameworks are unsettled.

Before founding Bellementis, Teresa created, launched, and led the first Digital and Innovative Markets team and co-led the Web3 and Digital Assets team at an AmLaw100 law firm. Earlier, she served as an attorney in the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of the General Counsel, and later as Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of Washington law and advisory firms working alongside former SEC Chair Harvey Pitt.

A thought leader, in her own voice. In May 2026, Washingtonian named Teresa one of DC’s 500 Most Influential People, describing her as “a primary architect of the Digital Markets Restructure Act.” She is the primary author of the Act’s discussion draft (March 2026) and the author of the foundational academic frameworks underlying it, including “A Framework for Regulating Programmable Digital Asset Markets” (October 2025) and “Measure Twice: Designing Trust for the Algorithmic Age” (October 2025).

Her dual fluency in agency operations and capital markets put her at the table for the policy decisions defining the next decade. She is an active contributor in the global discussions on financial market infrastructure and digital asset regulation on an interoperable global scale. She regularly engages with regulators, policymakers, and industry participants on issues relating to securities enforcement, market structure, and financial innovation.

Teresa is the creator and original host of Bulls, Bears, and Blockchain™, a fireside-chat series convening regulators, founders, and investors on the future of digital asset markets. She has appeared on Fox Business, CNBC, Bloomberg, FINTECH.TV, and Yahoo Finance, and her commentary has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Reuters/AP, Politico, Bloomberg Law, CoinDesk, The Block, Cointelegraph, and Washingtonian, among many others.

She is a frequent keynote and panelist at the leading industry conferences worldwide, from CfC St. Moritz to TOKEN2049 Dubai, Carnegie Melon's AFT (Advances in Financial Technologies), the SALT Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, SALT Bermuda, the DC Blockchain Summit, Securities Enforcement Forum, Binance Blockchain Week Abu Dhabi, and the Global Blockchain Show.

Beyond the law, Teresa holds an MBA in addition to her law degree and is a Certified Fraud Examiner and Certified Cryptocurrency Tracing Examiner. Her clients consistently note her combination of legal proficiency, business acumen, and pragmatic problem-solving, together with her ability to see challenges from every angle and identify unintended consequences before they arrive.

Teresa founded an AI legal platform (SophieLex) to amplify and scale lawyers, with the aim to not only power this boutique, but also to provide this technology to law firms and in-house legal departments, and to eventually provide a version of the product to the nonlawyer public.

She is, in her own words, an Army wife and mother first and an attorney second — convictions that inform the standards she has set for the firm she now leads.

Professional Memberships

The Digital Chamber, Board of Directors Member

Lexi Legal Labs Inc., Chairman of the Board of Directors (founder of SophieLex)

Securities Docket, Advisory Board Member

Former Adjunct, Georgetown University (Digital Law & Policy)

Original Host & Creator, Bulls, Bears, and Blockchain™

American Bar Association

--Anti-Money Laundering Committee: Co-Vice Chair

--Business Law Section

--International Law Section

The Federalist Society

Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Publications

(under development)

Mar 2026 Digital Markets Restructure Act—Discussion Draft (SSRN)

Oct 2025 A Framework for Regulating Programmable Digital Asset Markets (SSRN)

Oct 2025 Measure Twice: Designing Trust for the Algorithmic Age (SSRN)

Feb 2025 10 Commandments for Federal Securities Laws (CoinDesk)

Chambers Review

Provided by Chambers

Chambers Guide to the USA

Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government Investigations - District of Columbia

Band 6
Band 6

Individual Editorial

Teresa Goody Guillén of Bellementis PLLC brings to bear her expertise advising clients on complex SEC matters and congressional investigations.

Strengths

Provided by Chambers

  • Her judgment is exceptional and her experience is tremendous.

    Litigation: White-Collar Crime & Government InvestigationsChambers Guide to the USA

Ranked Individuals at BELLEMENTIS PLLC (1)

District of Columbia

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