Mario Gazzola is a partner in Quinn Emanuel’s New York City Office. His domestic practice focuses on complex commercial litigation and bankruptcy-related disputes. Mario also regularly handles international and cross-border disputes with a focus on Brazil and Latin America.
Mario routinely advises private equity, hedge fund, and financial services clients in disputes relating to their managed funds and portfolio companies, both on the plaintiff and defense side. On the defense side, Mario successfully represented Sculptor Capital Management in litigation challenging Sculptor’s approximately $720 million sale to Rithm Capital Management, allowing the transaction to go through. Mario was also part of the trial team that won a defense verdict for ten investment managers sued by Citibank in a case stemming from over $500 million in payments on syndicated term loans. On behalf of an investment bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Mario won a defense-side jury verdict in a case seeking approximately $200 million in damages. On the plaintiff side, Mario excels at identifying pressure points and driving early settlements. For example, on behalf of an independent investment bank, Mario has recovered nearly $100 million in pre-Complaint or pre-motion to dismiss settlements.
In all aspects of litigation, Mario has extensive experience handling clients’ most important matters. For example, Mario currently represents KKR in its litigation against the Department of Justice relating to Hart-Scott-Rodino Act filings, and Cleveland-Cliffs in litigation relating to the proposed merger between Nippon Steel and U.S. Steel. Mario previously represented Spotify in litigation filed by the owners of the rights to Eminem’s early catalog, helping win summary judgment on all plaintiffs’ claims, and represented Elon Musk in connection with his acquisition of Twitter.
Mario is Brazilian and speaks fluent Portuguese, and has significant experience advising Brazilian and Latin American companies and clients. Mario combines his U.S. litigation experience with his knowledge of the language, culture, and commercial customs to help clients achieve their goals. Mario develops global litigation strategy and guides clients through complex multi-jurisdictional disputes across various countries and forums. He represents the reference shareholders of Americanas SA in disputes relating to the 2024 Americanas accounting scandal, including by (1) successfully arguing and defeating creditors’ attempts to seek discovery from the reference shareholders in the United States, and (2) representing the reference shareholders in the arbitral chambers of B3, the Brazilian stock exchange. Mario also represented a major Brazilian meat producer in post-M&A disputes relating to the sale of a subsidiary, winning 98% of amounts in dispute in a $145 million purchase price adjustment arbitration.
Financial Services Clients
- Gemspring Capital Management
- Moelis & Company
- Sculptor Capital Management
- Elliott Management
- Benefit Street Partners
- KKR
- Brigade Capital Management
- HPS Investment Partners
Brazilian Clients
- LTS Investments
- Jorge Paulo Lemann
- Marcel Telles
- Beto Sicupira
- Marfrig Global Foods
- Vinci Partners
- BTG Pactual
- Stone
- Hotmart BV
Other Notable Clients
- Cleveland-Cliffs
- X, formerly Twitter
- Spotify
- IBM
- Vivint
- Tilray
- Hawaiian Electric
- Rootstock Labs
- NRG Energy
- Nike
- Represented Sculptor Capital Management in litigation seeking to enjoin Rithm Capital Management’s $720 million acquisition of Sculptor, achieving settlement that allowed the deal to go through.
- Trial victory on behalf of Revlon lenders, establishing discharge for value defense after being paid $500 million, par plus accrued, on account of Revlon term loans.
- Defense jury trial victory for Analog Analytics in breach of contract claim asserted by Travelsavers seeking approximately $200 million.
- Represented independent investment bank in various fee collection disputes, recovering nearly $100 million.
- Represented Spotify against plaintiffs asserting copyright violations, winning summary judgment on all claims.
- Represented the reference shareholders of Americanas SA in global disputes relating to Americanas SA’s bankruptcy, including successfully objecting to creditors’ attempts to seek discovery in the U.S.
- Represented Brazilian meat producer in arbitration brought by buyer in former M&A deal, winning 98% of amounts in dispute.
- Yale Law School
(J.D., 2017)- Yale Law Journal:
- Alumni Relations Editor
- Alumni Relations Editor
- Yale Law Journal:
- Virginia Tech
(B.A., Public & Urban Affairs and International Studies, cum laude, 2013)
- The State Bar of New York
- United States District Court:
- Southern District of New York
- Eastern District of New York
- District of Colorado
- United States Court of Appeals:
- Second Circuit
- Portuguese
- Italian
- Law Clerk for the Honorable Robert N. Chatigny:
- The United States District Court, District of Connecticut, 2019-2020
- The United States District Court, District of Connecticut, 2019-2020
- Boies Schiller Flexner LLP:
- Associate, 2017-2019
- Lucas V.M. Bento & Mario O. Gazzola, Arbitration And Insolvency In The U.S., in Arbitragem, Mediação, Falência e Recuperação (Thomson Reuters, 2022).