The University of Texas McCombs School of Business is hosting a Forensic Finance Conference on April 30 – May 1, 2026 at the Robert Rowling Hall and AT&T Conference Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

Our goal for the conference is to bring more attention to the field of forensic finance, which focuses on financial activity that is potentially illegal, illicit, and immoral. Research on forensic finance includes asset pricing, corporate finance, financial intermediation, and household finance, and can also relate to research in other economic fields, accounting, and the law.

Register by Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Thursday, April 30

Afternoon

Session Chair:
Rowling Hall, Classroom 5.402

2:00-2:15 pm

Opening Remarks – Lauren Cohen (Harvard)

2:15-3:00 pm

“Robinhood’s Forced Liquidations”
Authors: Diego Amaya (Laurier), Pedro Garcia-Ares (ITAM), Neil Pearson (University of Illinois), and Aurelio Vasquez (ITAM)
Discussant: Travis Johnson (University of Texas at Austin)

3:00-3:15 pm 

Break

3:15-4:45 pm

“Employee Forgivable Loans”
Authors: Alexandru Barbu (INSEAD) and Yiran Wang, Yiran (INSEAD)
Discussant: Colleen Honigsberg (Stanford)

“Financial Literacy and Financial Crime: A Regression Discontinuity Approach”
Authors: Paul Freed (Virginia) and John Hackney (Arkansas)
Discussant: Pablo Slutzky (Maryland)

4:45-5:00 pm

Break

5:00-5:30 pm

Keynote Address – Anat Admati (Stanford)

6:30 pm

Dinner at Micklethwait Barbecue
4602 Tanney St Austin, TX 78721

Friday, May 1

Afternoon

Session Chair:
Rowling Hall, Classroom 5.402

8:00-8:30 am

Breakfast at Tejas Dining Room
Level M2 AT&T Conference Center

8:30-10:00 am

“Venture Fraud”
Authors: Alexander Dyck (Toronto), Freda Fang (Toronto), Camille Hebert (Toronto), and Ting
Xu (Toronto)
Discussant: Jay Ritter (Florida)

10:00-10:15 am

Break

10:30 am – 12:00 pm

“The Traffic Light Effect in ESG Ratings”
Authors: Florian Berg (MIT), Jess Cornaggia (Penn State), Cristian Foroni (Bologna), and Francesco Tripoli (Harvard)
Discussant: Chester Spatt (Carnegie Mellon)

“Green Waste”
Authors: Tom Meling (Ohio State), Morten Grindaker (University of Chicago), Magne Mogstad (University of Chicago), and Ingvil Gaarder (University of Chicago)”
Discussant: Aymeric Bellon (University of North Carolina)

12:00-1:00 pm

Lunch at Tejas Dining Room
Level M2 AT&T Conference Center

Friday, May 1, Afternoon – Session Chair:
Rowling Hall, Classroom 5.402

1:00-2:30 pm

“Going for Broker? Intermediation in Health Insurance Markets”
Authors: Anran Li (University of Minnesota), Tong Liu (MIT), Anthony LoSasso (DePaul), and Nicholas Tilipman (Johns Hopkins)”
Discussant: Mark Egan (Harvard)

“How Do Financial Conditions Affect Professional Conduct? Evidence from Opioid Prescriptions”
Authors: Isil Erel (Ohio State), Shan Ge (NYU), and Pengfei Ma (Singapore Management University)
Discussant: Kim Cornaggia (Penn State)

A small block of rooms has been reserved for Thursday, April 30 at the AT&T Executive Education & Conference Center.

Reserve your room now

Rooms are in limited supply and must be reserved by March 31, 2026. 

If you would like to make arrangements at another hotel, please reach out to Kyle Hernandez for suggestions.

Program Committee:

Lauren Cohen
Jess Cornaggia
Kim Cornaggia
Mark Egan
Janet Gao
Umit Gurun
Will Gerken
Nick Hirschey
Colleen Honigsberg
Jonathan Karpoff
Gonzalo Maturana
Jordan Nickerson
Maureen O’Hara
Jay Ritter
Margarita Tsoutsoura
Stefan Zeume
Eric Zitzewitz

Program Organizers:

John Griffin
Sam Kruger

Conference Organizers:

Kyle Hernandez

Thursday, May 1

Afternoon

Session Chair: Jay Ritter
AT&T Center, Classroom 201

2:00-2:15 pm
Welcome and Introduction

2:15-3:00 pm
“Self-Dealing in Corporate Investment”
Authors: Paul Decaire (Arizona State) and Denis Sosyura (Arizona State)
Discussant: Erik Lie (Iowa)

3:00-3:15 pm
Break

3:15-4:45 pm
“Regulatory Leakage Among Financial Advisors: Evidence from FINRA Regulation of ‘Bad’ Broker”
Authors: Colleen Honigsberg (Stanford), Edwin Hu (Virginia), and Rob Jackson (NYU)
Discussant: Shan Ge (NYU)

“Death of a Salesman’s Manager: Conflicted Supervision and the Dark Side of Soft Information”
Authors: Stephen Dimmock (NUS), Jesse Ellis (NC State), and William Gerken (Kentucky)
Discussant: Tarik Umar (Rice)

4:45-5:00 pm
Break

5:00-5:30 pm
Keynote Address
Maureen O’Hara (Cornell)

6:30 pm
Dinner – Jacoby’s Restaurant & Mercantile
3235 E Cesar Chavez St., Austin TX 78702

Friday, May 2

Morning

Session Chair: Jonathan Karpoff
AT&T Center, Classroom 201

8:00-8:30 am
Breakfast – Tejas Dining Room
AT&T Hotel & Conference Center

8:30-10:00 am
“Tunneling and Hidden Profits in Health Care”
Authors: Ashvin Gandhi (UCLA) and Andrew Olenski (UCLA)
Discussant: Jess Cornaggia (Penn State)

“Contagious Deregulation”
Authors: Joseph Kalmenovitz (Rochester), Jakub Hajda (HEC Montreal), and Billy Xu (Rochester)
Discussant: Jonathan Karpoff (Washington)

10:00-10:15 am
Break

10:15 am – 12:00 pm
“Kamikazes in Public Procurements: Bid-Rigging and Real Non-Market Outcomes”
Authors: Dimas Fazio (NUS) and Alminas Zaldokas (NUS)
Discussant: Umit Gurun (University of Texas at Dallas)

“Box Jumping: Portfolio Recompositions to Achieve Higher Morningstar Ratings”
Authors: Lauren Cohen (Harvard), David S. Kim (MIT), and Eric C. So (MIT)
Discussant: Mindy Xiaolan (University of Texas at Austin)

12:00-1:00 pm
Lunch – Tejas Dining Room
AT&T Hotel & Conference Center

Afternoon

Session Chair: Michael Sockin
AT&T Center, Classroom 201

1:00-2:30 pm
“Splitting the Spoils: The Economics of Ransomware as a Service”
Authors: Anirudh Dhawan (IIM-Bangalore), Sean Foley (Macquarie), and Vito Mollica (Macquarie)
Discussant: Baolian Wang (Florida)

“Centralized Governance in Decentralized Organizations”
Authors: Lin William Cong (Cornell), Daniel Rabetti (NUS), Charles C.Y. Wang (Harvard), and Yu Yan (NUS)
Discussant: Cesare Fracassi (University of Texas at Austin)