Securities and Finance

White Collar, Investigations and Enforcement

NERA economists have extensive experience in applying quantitative economic analysis in white collar criminal investigations and litigation. Our expertise enables us to support firms in all economic aspects of white collar matters, including responding to market abuse investigations, defending enforcement actions, providing expert testimony, and quantifying regulatory impacts and risks.

We have assisted clients with matters involving:

• Accounting fraud
• Bid rigging
• Broker fraud
• Buyer cartels
• Commodities trading
• Criminal option backdating
• Criminal price fixing
• Customer and geographic allocation
• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), UK Bribery Act, and other Anti-Corruption Enforcement
• Health care/pharmaceutical-related fraud
• Insider trading
• Market manipulation
• Ponzi schemes
• Stock price manipulation, including "married puts"
• Tax shelters
• Trade allocation

We frequently assist clients in responding to formal investigations and requests for data and analyses from regulatory entities, such as the Division of Enforcement at the SEC, the DOJ, offices of State Attorneys General, and self-regulatory organizations such as FINRA. Our capabilities include the construction and analysis of large and complex transaction databases, analysis and implementation of computerized surveillance procedures, and preparation of summary materials in response to regulators' requests. NERA experts' analysis of damages and disgorgement measures aids clients in negotiating settlement agreements.

Our experts have also done extensive research into applying greater precision to calculating the financial benefits of bribery. We can assist clients facing issues arising under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and other anti-bribery and anti-corruption laws by offering a more sophisticated economic approach to determining the true "value" of an alleged bribe.

We have supported clients in matters covering a variety of products and services, including agricultural commodities and natural resources, capital equipment, transportation and fuel surcharges, industrial inputs, and consumer goods and services. We also have extensive experience working with mutual fund families in their discussions with regulators; our experts provide economic analysis to aid with the detection of market timing and late trading and the measurement of corresponding losses to mutual fund shareholders. In addition, NERA has worked with specialist firms involved in civil and criminal proceedings. Our experts have extensive experience analyzing data, reports, and algorithms used in automated surveillance of specialists' trading and exchange rules for equities and options.