Cornerstone Research has played active but nonpublic roles in a wide range of energy-related litigation and investigations.
Cornerstone Research has played active but nonpublic roles in a wide range of energy-related litigation and investigations. Our experience covers natural gas, electricity, petroleum, and refined products, as well as other energy commodities, and includes investigations of misconduct allegations in the physical and financial markets, cash, over-the-counter forwards, futures, and retail markets.
- Cornerstone Research evaluated and rebutted allegations of improper burst trading and churn trading by a large energy trading firm on a prominent electronic trading platform.
- For a midsize electric and gas utility, Cornerstone Research analyzed allegations of natural gas market manipulation through a combination of trading and the control of storage and pipeline capacity in key market storage facilities and pipelines.
- For several energy trading firms, Cornerstone Research investigated allegations of improper wash or round-trip trading.
- Cornerstone Research took a leading role in several natural gas price misreporting investigations. In these matters Cornerstone Research staff conducted detailed data analyses of multiple types of company and market data to determine the number and characteristics of trades made by the company and to determine whether these trades might have been considered reportable at the time they were made. These analyses relied heavily on Cornerstone Research’s in-house expertise on natural gas trading and the physical natural gas infrastructure in the United States and Canada. Additionally, Cornerstone Research staff conducted detailed analyses of company, desk, and trader positions to determine the potential incentives or disincentives to misreport trade prices.
- Cornerstone Research analyzed allegations that the trading division of a large energy firm had cornered the market on a widely used energy commodity.
- For a large natural gas producer, Cornerstone Research evaluated allegations of withholding large quantities of natural gas from the North American market.