Stevan Bunnel, former general counsel for the U.Southward. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has been revealed every bit the Libra Clan'due south new leading lawyer.

Since leaving the Homeland Security Department in 2022, Bunnell co-chaired the data privacy-focused legal practice O'Melveny & Myers until joining the Libra Association this month.

The association's former full general counsel, Robert Werner told Bloomberg Law that he chose to depart from the position subsequently it became clear it meant he would have to relinquish an existing position on the boards of directors for Deutsche Depository financial institution Trust Co.

"Steve is an outstanding lawyer and a neat guy," Werner told Bloomberg.

Werner, a erstwhile director for the Fiscal Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and onetime senior counsel to The Under Secretary of The Treasury, was appointed past the Libra Association in May. His departure was not publicized, with his proper noun quietly being removed from its list of executives at some bespeak during August.

Bunnel's appointment comes 2 weeks after Facebook launched a new production division focused on "payments and commerce opportunities" with Libra's co-creator, David Marcus, heading the branch. The division'southward first task volition be introducing payments into WhatsApp in select emerging markets including Brazil and India.

The motility follows the suspension of WhatsApp payments by Brazil's regulators in July after initial trials of the feature, with lawmakers citing concerns that Facebook may be able to capture a monopolistic dominance over the country's payments sector.