Manuel Vasconcelos

Manuel Vasconcelos specializes in complex commercial disputes and regulatory inquiries in the areas of market manipulation, valuation, damages, energy markets, and private equity (PE). His expertise encompasses a diverse range of financial instruments in cash and derivative markets, including fixed-income, equities, natural gas, and credit; he serves as a cohead of Cornerstone Research’s market manipulation and market microstructure practice. Dr. Vasconcelos also has extensive valuation and damages experience in the context of contractual disputes across a variety of industries.

Dr. Vasconcelos leads teams supporting academic and industry experts at all stages of litigation and in international arbitration matters. He also leads teams working on internal and regulatory investigations and proceedings, and frequently presents findings to boards, senior executives, and regulators.

On behalf of clients, Dr. Vasconcelos has presented to staff members at the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY), the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Internationally, he has worked on matters initiated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the European Commission (EC).

Dr. Vasconcelos also has significant experience with Section 10b-5 and Section 11 securities matters at the class certification and merits stages, including on IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund et al. v. Deutsche Bank AG et al., in which the court denied class certification.

Dr. Vasconcelos’s experience includes:

Market manipulation, trading conduct, and market microstructure

• Extensive work in matters involving alleged manipulation of benchmarks, including interest rate benchmarks, natural gas indices, and interdealer broker screens
• Analyzing large datasets with internal bank and market trading data in the context of inquiries into alleged collusion, spoofing, pre-hedging, and other alleged market manipulation conduct
• Evaluating and benchmarking execution quality in equity markets and investigating payment for order flow issues
• Working on antitrust investigations and litigation in the credit default swap (CDS), agency bond, and variable-rate demand obligation (VRDO) markets
• Analyzing design and risk management issues related to interest rate and equity derivatives
• Assessing valuation of fixed-income securities held by asset managers in illiquid markets
• Researching issues related to LIBOR transition and its potential impact on derivative and cash markets

 Valuation and quantification of economic damages

•  Extensive experience in financial modeling and company valuation, including of venture capital (VC)-backed firms
• Validating International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) close-out process and claim amounts for fixed-income, commodity, and equity derivative positions, with an emphasis on interest rate swaps and swaptions
• Calculating damages in contractual disputes in many industries, including construction, electricity, financial services, mining, natural gas, and PE

Energy markets

•  Analyzing and modeling the impact of external factors on U.S. natural gas prices
• Consulting on an investigation of trading in natural gas markets during bidweek, including analyzing potential reasons for such trading
• Assessing alleged misconduct in natural gas procurement and associated damages
• Assessing damages in connection with a power plant’s participation in PJM’s energy and capacity markets

 Start-up financing, venture capital, and private equity

• Valuing and analyzing securities issued by early-stage and other VC-backed firms, including convertible notes, simple agreements for future equity (SAFEs), convertible preferred stock, and common stock
• Consulting on matters requiring in-depth understanding of start-up financing and VC fund practices, including in the context of alleged patent infringement and trade secret misappropriation
• Consulting on matters related to PE industry structure and practices, and private debt

Pro bono

Dr. Vasconcelos is active in Cornerstone Research’s pro bono initiatives. He led efforts in an initial phase of Booth et al. v. Galveston County et al., a lawsuit brought by the ACLU alleging bail amounts were set without regard to ability to pay, resulting in extended detention.

Dr. Vasconcelos has published academic research in the Review of Financial Studies and the International Review of Financial Analysis. Previously, he worked at McKinsey & Co.