Salamandre operates as a small senior-led firm. Other members of the Board, partners and senior staff contribute to the firm but are not disclosed publicly, in keeping with the operational confidentiality inherent to our work. This page covers the principals who contribute to client mandates under their own name, the structure of our partnership, and the institutional network that supports every engagement.
Two members of the firm contribute to client mandates under their own name — its President, and a senior advisor whose international remit and operational experience are directly relevant to the firm's cross-border work.
David Nataf
President & Member of the BoardA French entrepreneur and recognised specialist in computer criminal law, graduate of the Sceaux Faculty of Law (Paris-Saclay). With more than twenty-five years of experience in cybersecurity, cryptography and digital risk management, he has advised major corporations in the defence, aerospace and telecommunications sectors on cyber threats and the protection of information systems.
A long-standing associate of the firm, he was among the first to publicly denounce the Echelon global surveillance system in 2001 and has contributed to French parliamentary missions on economic intelligence. As President and Member of the Board, he oversees the executive direction of the group and supervises all legal, regulatory and compliance aspects of Salamandre's operations in the sensitive domains of strategic intelligence, the fight against financial crime and the security of digital assets.
Patrick Chavel
Senior Advisor — International Business DevelopmentA senior international business development executive with more than fifteen years of experience scaling innovation businesses globally and driving strategic cross-border partnerships. He specialises in defence and dual-use technology transfer, government relations and market entry across Asia-Pacific (Korea, Vietnam, South-East Asia), continental Europe and selected international markets.
Having held diplomatic and institutional postings in Asia, he has successfully opened new markets for innovation companies in AgriTech, CleanTech, cybersecurity and emerging technologies, navigating complex regulatory environments. Multilingual (English, French, Spanish, Dutch), he contributes to Salamandre's international reach in technology transfer and cross-border market entry.
Salamandre operates as a small, senior-led partnership. Every engagement is supervised by a partner who brings two to three decades of operational experience in their domain — and is personally accountable for the result. Beyond the two publicly named Board members and the senior advisors above, the firm's other Board members, partners and employees are not listed publicly: institutional anonymity is part of how we protect our clients and our methods. The breadth of our partnership, however, reflects the breadth of our practice.
Three decades in cross-border intelligence-gathering, due diligence and litigation research. Background combining private practice and senior government service in a major European intelligence apparatus.
Veteran of European national cyber agencies, specialised in advanced-threat defence, incident response, and the protection of critical infrastructure. Holds senior security clearances.
Bridge between traditional intelligence work and blockchain analytics. Has led major asset-recovery operations across multiple jurisdictions, working with regulated exchanges, custodians and law-enforcement bodies.
Background in sovereign data architecture, sensitive information classification and the secure exploitation of high-value datasets. Trained in both engineering and intelligence tradecraft.
Former officer in a national earth-observation programme. Coordinates the firm's satellite tasking, IMINT analysis and geospatial monitoring of strategic assets and supply chains.
Each Salamandre office is led by a regional partner with deep local network, cultural fluency and language expertise — across Paris, Washington, Zurich, Brussels and Singapore.
Salamandre operates within a network of carefully selected institutional partners — chosen for their integrity, expertise and discretion. Every relationship is long-standing and contractually structured. Without them, no engagement of meaningful scale could be executed.
Across European, US, Swiss and Asia-Pacific jurisdictions — for litigation support, asset-recovery proceedings and cross-border legal coordination.
Independent accounting firms providing asset-tracing, beneficial-ownership analysis and court-admissible financial forensics on the most complex matters.
Best-in-class on-chain data partners and crypto-forensic tooling — the foundation of our digital-asset investigation and AML capabilities.
Direct relationships with leading commercial satellite operators for tasking, high-resolution imagery acquisition and dedicated geospatial intelligence.
A vetted roster of cyber researchers, cryptographers, academic advisors and former intelligence officers we engage on a per-mandate basis when specialist depth is required.
Established relationships with regulators and law-enforcement agencies in each office country, enabling coordinated action when our investigations require formal cooperation.
