Laurent Samuel

Laurent Samuel coheads Cornerstone Research’s energy and commodities practice and specializes in matters involving financial markets, trading conduct, investments, and corporate and asset valuation. Mr. Samuel has extensive experience with commodities physical supply chains.

Across a range of financial markets and physical markets, Mr. Samuel evaluates trading and hedging strategies, price impact, exchange and benchmark mechanics, and alleged collusive conduct. He also addresses valuation matters, including those arising in mergers and acquisition (M&A) transactions, private equity (PE) or venture capital (VC) investments, bankruptcy proceedings, and breach of contract claims.

Mr. Samuel leads teams to analyze large, complex, high-frequency financial datasets, from both private entities and trading exchanges. A former commodities trader with expertise in physical operations, he has extensive knowledge of trading strategies, transportation logistics, and market behavior.

Mr. Samuel’s representative experience includes:

Market microstructure

• Addressing market microstructure and exchange mechanics, economics utility, and price discovery issues in the context of Commodities Exchange Act (CEA) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulations, as well various gambling laws
• Evaluating alleged deficiencies in best execution practices in the context of high-frequency trading and payment for order flow in equity markets
• Analyzing prediction markets and sports-related event contracts in litigation and regulatory enforcement proceedings
• Analyzing claims of anticompetitive behavior in the management of futures exchange markets

Market manipulation claims and trading conduct

• Working on antitrust investigations and litigation related to U.S. Treasury futures and several commodities futures trading
• Investigating allegations of market manipulation, false reporting, and price manipulation in commodities with related physically settled futures markets
• Analyzing alleged spoofing activities in commodity and financial futures markets
• Examining front-running allegations and pre-hedging practices in interest rate swaps and foreign exchange (FX) markets
• Evaluating alleged benchmark manipulations in energy products
• Assessing price-fixing allegations of variable-rate demand obligation (VRDO) markets on behalf of a joint defense

Valuation

• Analyzing company and transaction valuations using discounted cash flow (DCF) methodologies, evaluating assessed cash flow projections and discount rates, and assessing comparable companies and transactions
• Addressing deal process, corporate governance, and hedge fund activism issues
• Calculating damages related to alleged breach of contract
• Analyzing companies’ solvency, financial position, and access to capital markets

Before joining Cornerstone Research, Mr. Samuel held positions at leading financial institutions, including Louis Dreyfus Commodities, where he worked in agriculture commodities and metals trading, and Société Générale in Paris, where he oversaw high value–added auditing and consulting assignments across various business lines, including capital markets, investment banking, and retail.