At Fideres, we provide expert economic testimony for complex financial disputes worldwide. Our economists help clients evaluate financial misconduct, quantify damages, and support litigation from initial investigation through settlement, delivering critical insights that strengthen cases at every stage.
Our team has extensive experience with financial disputes, having testified in landmark litigation involving fraud, benchmark manipulation, and other misconduct across various financial instruments. We provide consulting services spanning regulatory investigations, claim filing, damages evaluation, class certification, and settlement negotiation.
Our Focus
- We analyze market data to identify manipulation in financial benchmarks and markets, investigate product mis-selling, and evaluate breaches of fiduciary duty.
- We develop sophisticated economic models that combine theoretical rigor with practical market insights to address novel challenges in financial litigation.
- We quantify damages across complex financial products including derivatives, securities, commodities, and structured products, ensuring accurate assessment of client losses.
- We conduct rigorous bottom-up and market-based asset valuation as well as deal process evaluation in conjunction with appraisal matters and shareholder disputes.
- We deploy our network of economists and academic affiliates to deliver compelling testimony that makes complex financial concepts clear and persuasive for judges and juries.
Engagements
Driven by rigorous analysis, our expert work empowers justice—for all—from case strategy to victory. Below are some examples of our track record.
In re: Commodity Exchange, Inc., Gold Futures and Options Trading Litigation, (1:14-md-02548)
Quinn Emanuel, serving as co-lead counsel, secured a settlement exceeding $150 million on behalf of a class of investors in a case involving the alleged manipulation of the benchmark gold price known as the “London Gold Fix.”
The class action, filed in the Southern District of New York, was brough against a group of major banks accused of conspiring to manipulate the gold market. The complaint asserted claims under the Sherman Act, the Commodity Exchange Act, and unjust enrichment, representing individuals and entities that traded in gold-related financial instruments.
Fideres’s Contribution
Fideres conducted statistical analyses revealing that gold prices consistently exhibited anomalous behavior at a specific time of day. Notably, this suspicious pricing coincided with secret meetings held by a group of dealer banks under the guise of conducting a gold “auction” known as the London Gold Fixing. The Court found that the plaintiffs had plausibly alleged a scheme to corrupt the auction process and use it to fix prices in violation of antitrust and other laws.
Client
In re: Credit Default Swaps Antitrust Litigation, (1:13-md-02476)
n one of the biggest private settlements ever, a New York judge gave approval to a $1.87 billion deal in a case about credit default swaps (CDS).
The lawsuit claimed that twelve major Wall Street banks, along with the International Swaps and Derivatives Association and data provider Markit, conspired to maintain control over the CDS market by keeping it in the opaque, over-the-counter space—where the banks held a 95% market share. They allegedly blocked new trading platforms that would have let investors trade directly with each other, cutting out the banks. For example, in 2008, a proposed platform called CMDX was reportedly shut down by the banks to protect their dominance.
Fideres’s Contribution
Fideres’ financial derivatives market expertise to the counsel team helped them to develop the theory of harm. Our preliminary damages model allowed counsel to distinguish its complaint from those filed by competing law firms, thereby giving them a unique edge.
Client
Alaska Electrical Pension Fund v. Bank of America N.A., (1:14-cv-07126)
In one of the most complicated class action cases, a New York judge approved over $500 million in settlement in the ISDAfix case.
The case alleged that 14 of the world’s largest banks, along with their interest rate swaps broker-dealer, colluded to manipulate ISDAfix — a global benchmark used to value trillions of dollars in interest rate derivatives — in order to benefit their own trading positions at the expense of investors such as pension funds, insurance companies, and hedge funds. The manipulation involved coordinated efforts to move rates in a particular direction at the time of daily ISDAfix settings, often by placing strategically timed trades or submitting false rate information.
Fideres’s Contribution
Fideres developed damages methodologies tailored to various financial instruments linked to, or indirectly impacted by, ISDAfix. This included building pricing models for a range of products, including complex and exotic instruments with intricate payment structures.
Clients
Deutsche Bank (China) v. Bright Food Hong Kong, EWHC 3543 (Comm) CL-2017-000326
Bright Food Sues Deutsche Bank Over $102.8M Currency Swap Loss Tied to Weetabix Sale and Brexit Fallout.
This case centers on a legal dispute between Bright Food Hong Kong and Deutsche Bank over complex currency swaps tied to Bright Food’s former stake in Weetabix Ltd. Bright Food alleges that Deutsche Bank misrepresented the risks of British pound-to-US dollar swaps, leading to significant financial losses after the Brexit vote caused the pound to plunge. Following the sale of Bright Food’s majority stake in Weetabix, Deutsche Bank imposed an early termination fee of $102.8 million, which Bright Food paid under protest.
Fideres’s Contribution
Fideres provided an expert opinion on the valuation of the cross-currency swap involved in the transaction, demonstrating that the swap was likely overvalued at the time. We also showed that the product was unlikely to function effectively as a hedging instrument. The parties reached a settlement shortly after the submission of our expert report.
Client
Experts
Fideres provide insightful and clear expert economic analysis through our expert reports. Our specialist network of affiliated experts includes leading academics and industry leaders.
News & Insights
Join Our Team
Financial Economist – Shape the Future of Financial Justice
Ready to turn complex data into courtroom victories? As a Financial Economist at Fideres, you will be at the forefront of high-stakes financial litigation, using cutting-edge econometric and statistical analysis to uncover the truth behind corporate wrongdoing.
What You Will Do: Transform raw financial data into compelling evidence through sophisticated analysis and modeling. You will communicate directly with clients and stakeholders, taking initiative to strengthen our analytical approach while staying ahead of market developments to identify new opportunities for justice.
Your Impact: From data extraction and management to developing innovative analytical techniques, you will play a crucial role in leveling the playing field for our clients. Your work will contribute to fair outcomes in complex financial disputes across global markets.
Ready to make data-driven justice your mission? Join us in creating a more transparent financial world.