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Nicolo Nourafchan, the former mergers and acquisitions attorney accused of leading a decade-long insider trading scheme that prosecutors say netted tens of millions of dollars, pleaded not guilty on Monday in federal court in Boston, along with 14 other defendants.
Having held positions at Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins, and Goodwin Procter, Nourafchan is accused of siphoning confidential details about nearly 30 corporate deals in progress and passing those tips to traders and go-betweens who rewarded him with a share of the profits, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. Thirty people in total have been charged in the case.
Not guilty pleas were also entered by personal injury attorney Robert Yadgarov, Nourafchan's alleged co-orchestrator, and by Lorenzo Nourafchan, who runs a fractional CFO and accounting firm and is Nicolo's brother, according to Reuters.
The pair are also accused of drawing lawyers from other elite firms into the conspiracy as tip suppliers, among them attorneys from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, and Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Among those recruited lawyers is Gabriel Gershowitz, who shared college years with both Nourafchan and Yadgarov before practicing at Willkie and Weil Gotshal; he has since entered a guilty plea and is assisting the government's investigation, according to Bloomberg. Eight other defendants had previously entered guilty pleas that were unsealed when prosecutors announced the case on May 6.
