Jonathan Mattout
Jonathan heads the Corporate Crime & Investigations and Compliance practice in Paris, and is Regional Head of our Corporate Crime and Investigations practice in EMEA. He is also Deputy Head of the firm's Corporate Crime and Investigations practice.
Jonathan has over 20 years' experience in white-collar crime disputes, whether in the field of defence or in that of advice. He mainly assists his clients in criminal proceedings (whether as defendants or victims) both in France and abroad, in the context of internal investigations, crisis management or the prevention and detection of criminal risk, particularly in relation to the risks of corruption, money laundering, international economic sanctions or the obligations arising from the duty of vigilance.
He acts for top-tier domestic and international companies as well as their directors in connection with all types of legal proceedings, notably in relation to economic and financial crime, cybercrime, market abuse and industrial accidents. He also advises numerous companies in setting up or strengthening their anti-corruption compliance programmes and in audits carried out by the French Anti-Corruption Agency (AFA).
He has worked in Asia, the US, London and Hong Kong and has advocated before certain courts in Francophone Africa.
Jonathan is admitted in the Paris bar and speaks French and English fluently.
Jonathan teaches at SciencesPo Paris and regularly speaks in seminars on corporate and financial crime and compliance. Jonathan is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the IBA's ‘Business Crime Committee’, as well its former Co-Chair.
A recognised expert in his field, Jonathan has been ranked 5th in the top 40 French business lawyers for the CAC 40 (Forbes Magazine, 2021), named among the 40 best corporate investigations lawyers in the World, under 40 (Global Investigations Review, 2017), and among the top 50 lawyers in France with the greatest experience in Africa (Jeune Afrique, 2016).
Jonathan's practice is ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Europe 2026, where they comment that "the service provided by Jonathan is simply exceptional. His level of expertise, his perspective on the subjects, and the finesse of the advice provided are among the best we have found on the market."
The practice is also ranked in the top tier in Legal 500 Paris and EMEA 2026, with Jonathan ranked in the Hall of Fame: "The compliance team at HSF Kramer is unquestionably one of the most highly regarded in the Paris market. It handles the most high-profile matters while remaining discreet and modest."
Experience & capabilities
Selected matters
- numerous French and foreign companies and senior executives investigated by the French National Financial Prosecutor's Office (PNF) for corruption, tax fraud, collusion, favouritism, influence peddling, money laundering and other offences
- Sonepar in relation to the first case ever heard by the Enforcement Committee (Commission des sanctions) of the French Anti-Corruption Agency
- several groups in the context of investigations conducted by multilateral development banks (World Bank, ADB, IDB, EIB, etc.)
- several groups in multiple sectors in connection with sanctions against, in particular, Russia and Iran
- an international bank as part of a criminal investigation following a massive cyber-attack
- several groups on the implementation of measures and procedures relating to the fight against corruption (Sapin 2 and on a global scale), the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and international economic sanctions, and training of COMEX members, directors and managers in these areas
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