Federal prosecutors in Boston unsealed two indictments on May 6, 2026, charging 30 people, including corporate attorneys and financial professionals, with securities fraud and related offenses in a coordinated, decade-long insider trading conspiracy [1]. Nineteen defendants were arrested across California, Florida, and New York on the same day the charges became public. Two additional defendants, located in Russia and Israel, remain fugitives [1].
At the center of the alleged scheme is Nicolo Nourafchan, a Yale Law School graduate who held associate positions at Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins, and Goodwin Procter [1][2]. Prosecutors allege Nourafchan exploited his access to confidential merger and acquisition documents stored on law firm networks, extracting material nonpublic information and passing it to a broader trading network [1]. In exchange, Nourafchan allegedly received kickbacks tied to profits generated through trades placed ahead of announced transactions [2]. The charges invoke the securities fraud provisions of Title 18 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, with insider trading liability premised on the misappropriation theory, under which a person breaches a duty of confidentiality owed to the source of the information.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts is leading the prosecution, coordinating with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has filed parallel civil charges [1]. The SEC's involvement signals that civil disgorgement and penalties will run alongside the criminal case, a standard posture in large-scale insider trading matters. The indictments name co-defendant Robert Yadgarov among those charged, with the full defendant roster spanning multiple professional disciplines and multiple countries [1][2]. The breadth of the alleged network, reaching across at least three Am Law 100 firms and international borders, distinguishes the matter from more contained tipping cases.
Defense counsel for several defendants have not yet entered formal appearances on the public docket. Arraignments for the 19 arrested defendants are expected in the coming weeks before a federal district judge in Massachusetts [1]. Extradition proceedings for the two fugitive defendants will depend on treaty obligations with Russia and Israel, the latter of which maintains a functioning extradition relationship with the United States.
The case presents a direct challenge to the information-barrier protocols that large law firms rely on to segregate sensitive deal data. Regulators and firm general counsel will be watching how prosecutors reconstruct the alleged access pathway through firm networks, a question that will likely drive both the trial narrative and any subsequent compliance reforms across the industry [2].
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