Laurence Freed
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principal
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New York
Practice Leader: Financial Institutions
Practice Leader: Technology
Mr. Freed is a consultant and testifying expert with experience in finance, technology, and media. With a specialization in evaluating issues related to financial distress and leverage, he has worked on behalf of banks, investment management firms, private equity firms, hedge funds, private investors, and government prosecutors and regulators.
Mr. Freed’s clients and colleagues rely upon him for his ability to communicate complex finance and technology industry dynamics. He has consulted and testified on numerous finance-related subjects, including equity derivatives, mortgage-backed securities, collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and structured products; exchange-traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds, and institutional portfolio management; credit risk analysis, derivatives modeling, and securities valuation; performance attribution; securities lending; forensic loss; business operations and process controls in financial institutions; and financial technology and infrastructure management. In technology, particularly fintech, he has consulted on middle- and back-office trading infrastructure, software development best practices, and fund trading models.
In addition, Mr. Freed has experience in media finance, having managed the financial operations of a film finance company, negotiated film slate financings, and consulted on the operating models of film distribution companies, international sales agents, and commercial and TV production companies.
Prior to becoming a consultant, Mr. Freed served as head of operations and IT for a $2 billion, 40-person structured finance hedge fund platform, where he managed a team of 20 software engineers, financial market quants, and a variable pool of business analysts, project managers, and technologists. At other points in his professional career, he managed the development of a commercial software platform for CDO/collateralized loan obligations valuation and surveillance, and developed intra-day risk management software for an equity derivatives trading desk.
Columbia University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
Selected graduate classes in Mathematical Finance, Probability and Stochastic Methods
Columbia University School of International & Public Affairs
Masters in International Affairs
Rutgers College, Rutgers University
BA in History with Honors, Minor in Computer Science
Personal Interests
Laurence lives in New York City and is active in supporting local arts organizations.
Testimony
Presentation of expert analysis in a FINRA arbitration concerning the appropriateness of an interdealer broker’s electronic communication of pricing information to a client.
United States of America v. Anilesh Ahuja et al, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
U.S. Bank National Association v. Triaxx Asset Management LLC et al, United States District Court, Southern District of New York.
Preparation of expert analysis in a FINRA arbitration concerning the structure and performance of VIX volatility ETFs and VIX futures over several holding periods.