Former Biglaw Attorney Allegedly Turned His Résumé Into A Decade

Key Points:

• The DOJ indicted 30 corporate attorneys and financial professionals in a decade-long insider trading scheme targeting top U.S. Biglaw firms, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits.
• Nicolo Nourafchan, a Yale Law graduate with a history at prominent firms like Sidley Austin and Latham & Watkins, is accused of accessing confidential deal information and selling it through a complex network involving lawyers, traders, and middlemen.
• The scheme involved recruiting insiders for payments, using burner phones and coded language to evade detection, and included notable incidents such as illicit trading on confidential information related to the abandoned Amazon-iRobot deal.
• Charges against the defendants include securities fraud, money laundering conspiracy, aiding and abetting, and obstruction of justice, with 19 arrests made and two defendants considered fugitives abroad.
• The implicated law firms remain unnamed, but statements from Latham and Goodwin acknowledge the involvement of former employees and emphasize cooperation with authorities, while Cleary Gottlieb and Sidley Austin have yet to comment.