Marlene Haas is a financial economist specializing in financial markets, financial institutions, valuation, and FinTech. Dr. Haas’s work centers on market manipulation and antitrust claims, digital asset markets and commercial FinTech applications, and the valuation of private and public companies.
Dr. Haas consults with clients across the U.S., UK, and Europe on financial economics issues at every stage of litigation, from class certification through merits, including expert reports and testimony. Her work also includes internal and regulatory investigations, and she frequently presents on behalf of clients to enforcement agencies, including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In addition, she has conducted contracted research in support of SEC rulemaking studies.
Dr. Haas’s experience covers public, private, and over-the-counter (OTC) markets, with a focus on banking, broker-dealers and market makers, commodities and energy, hedge funds, and private equity (PE) and venture capital (VC) funds. Her clients also include individuals facing regulatory investigations or private litigation.
Dr. Haas has published articles on market microstructure topics—including securities lending, short selling, short squeezes, and high-frequency trading—in leading academic journals such as the Journal of Financial Economics, Management Science, the Journal of Financial Markets, and the Journal of Banking and Finance. Her research on market manipulation topics also appears in industry publications, including the Journal of Financial Compliance, the World Financial Review, and Compliance Monitor.
Antitrust, market manipulation, and market microstructure
Dr. Haas analyzes antitrust claims, market manipulation allegations, and market microstructure issues in regulatory and litigation matters across equities, commodities, foreign exchange (FX), energy, options, futures, and fixed income markets. Her work includes:
- Antitrust issues in FX and commodity futures markets
- Benchmark manipulation allegations in precious metals, energy, and financial products
- Best execution and payment for order flow analyses
- Damages and settlement estimates
- Front-running and pre-hedging practices in global FX markets
- Price manipulation allegations in U.S. and European commodity futures, FX, cryptocurrency, and government bond markets
- Spoofing and other alleged disruptive trading in U.S. and European equity, commodity and financial futures, and FX markets
- Trading in Volatility Index (VIX)-related products and markets
Digital assets, blockchain, and FinTech
Dr. Haas addresses economic and technical issues across digital asset markets, blockchain technology, and the broader FinTech sector. Her work includes:
- Analysis of alleged manipulative trading on cryptocurrency exchanges and blockchains
- Blockchain technology, decentralized finance (DeFi), and smart contract design
- Forensic analyses of digital asset transactions
- Commercial applications of FinTech
- Classification of crypto tokens
- Reserve funding, including proof of reserves and stablecoin reserve backing
- Valuing FinTech VC funds
Valuation
Dr. Haas values companies and assesses financial damages in public and private markets. She has worked on arbitrations as well as matters in tax court.
Using various methodologies, including discounted cash flow (DCF) and option pricing models, Dr. Haas has conducted valuation analyses of:
- Public and private companies
- Financial claims involving PE and VC funds, including the valuation of carried interest
- PE and VC industry structure and practices
- Damages in contractual disputes
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