Overview
Bates White has broad expertise in a wide range of securities litigation. Our experts have performed analyses related to a variety of illegal trading activities, financial fraud, shareholder litigations, securities class actions, and ERISA disputes.
Our extensive experience includes providing consulting and expert testimony services to both regulatory agencies and private and institutional investors. We have provided sophisticated analysis involving a wide range of trading activities, including spoofing, front-running activities, and pump-and-dump schemes. Our knowledge and expertise cover a wide range of financial instruments, such as equities, fixed income, derivatives, and bespoke securities. Regardless of the financial instrument or market, we provide thoughtful analysis, using current modeling tools, for both our consulting work and our expert opinions.
Selected Work
- Spoofing. Retained on several matters related to spoofing and other illegal trading activities on behalf of regulators that wanted to investigate potentially disruptive trading activities on different exchanges.
- Front running and insider trading. Provided consulting support to a regulator that sued an international bank and several foreign-exchange traders. The regulator had alleged that the traders, together with others, participated in a front-running scheme to defraud their client.
- Pump-and-dump. Ilan Guedj was retained in a pump-and-dump case to analyze potential damages resulting from allegations that a trader who was found guilty of having run a pump-and-dump scheme bought stocks before the price rose and sold them high.
- Financial fraud. Provided expert testimony in an investor lawsuit regarding an international bank's failure to exercise proper due diligence in approving investments in a feeder fund that invested in a hedge fund engaged in fraud.
- Enron “MegaClaims” litigation proceedings. In the Enron “MegaClaims” litigation, Partner B. Douglas Bernheim served as the causation and damages expert on behalf of Enron and its unsecured creditors.
- Shareholder lawsuits. On behalf of the Securities and Exchange Commission, which had reached a settlement with Houston American Energy Corp. (HUSA), evaluated the materiality of several alleged misrepresentations that HUSA made in its public filings regarding its Colombian oil wells.
- ERISA. Retained by a client who filed a claim against an insurance company alleging an ERISA violation involving guaranteed investment contract investments in retirement plans.
- Securities class action. Ilan Guedj was retained by plaintiff in a securities class action alleging inadequate risk and long-term viability disclosure of mutual funds.
Publications
An Update on Spoofing and Its Challenges
Spoofing is a type of manipulative trading behavior prohibited by law. It has been the subject of increased attention by federal regulators. Principal Ilan Guedj and Senior Economist An Wang examine recent developments in litigation and the challenges in identifying spoofing activities.
An Economic Primer on Valuing Cryptocurrencies
Startups and projects are raising more and more money through initial coin offerings. At the beginning of 2018, the aggregate market capitalization of cryptocurrencies hit an all-time high of more than $800 billion; and despite the recent decline in value, some foresee this market hitting $1 trillion by year’s end. The increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies has fostered much legal debate, and many enforcement actions have been taken in recent months. Senior Economist An Wang and Simona Mola contribute to the debate in their article by offering an economic perspective on cryptocurrencies—in particular, what drives the value of a cryptocurrency. From an economic standpoint not all cryptocurrencies are created equal, however, and understanding their differences has crucial implications on their valuation.