Paul Massaro is the Staff Director of the Helsinki Commission. He has been described in the media as “one of America’s foremost corruption experts” and an “endless source of democratic ingenuity.” He previously held the role of Senior Policy Advisor for Counter-Corruption and Sanctions at the Helsinki Commission. His work has advanced the recognition of corruption as a national security threat and furthered the cause of Ukrainian victory.
Massaro has been instrumental in the passage of numerous pieces of groundbreaking legislation to counter and contain dictatorships including:
- The Rebuilding Economic Prosperity and Opportunity (REPO) for Ukrainians Act, which enabled the confiscation of Russian sovereign assets and their use for the benefit of Ukraine.
- The Foreign Extortion Prevention Act, which criminalized the demand side of foreign bribery and has been described as “without question…the most consequential anti-foreign-bribery law passed in almost 50 years.”
- The Oligarch Assets for Ukrainian Victory Act, which enabled illicit assets recovered from Russian oligarchs to be sent to Ukraine as aid.
- The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which redefined doping as fraud and made it illegal in international competitions anywhere in the world.
- The Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act, which served as the first-ever U.S. law to respond to the abuse of INTERPOL by authoritarian regimes.
Massaro holds a Master of Public Policy and two Bachelor of Arts degrees in Government & Politics and Germanic Studies from the University of Maryland, College Park. He speaks fluent German.
