30 charged with an insider trading scheme led by a lawyer involving collusion secrets
Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., joins ‘Mornings with Maria’ to discuss the introduction of the Stop Insider Trading Act and the DOJ’s investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that 30 people have been charged in an insider trading scheme in which attorneys allegedly used their positions to obtain confidential information about pending mergers and acquisitions in exchange for payment.
Authorities have arrested 19 people on charges that allegedly spanned a decade, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said. press release. The two suspects, from Russia and Israel, are considered fugitives.
Those arrested include California attorney Nicolo Nourafchan, whom federal prosecutors have identified as the alleged mastermind of the scheme that netted tens of millions of dollars. He faces two additional counts of obstruction of justice.
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General view of the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts. (Nicholas Pfosi/Reuters)
“Every person indicted today is accused of profiting from speculative market activity and acting like a criminal,” Ted Docks, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Boston Division, said in a statement. “That’s not just playing the game — it’s a collective crime.”
Federal prosecutors allege that Nourafchan, among other things, used his role as a licensed corporate attorney at a major law firm to access internal computer networks to obtain confidential information about pending mergers.
Nourafchan then gave undisclosed information to others in exchange for payments, authorities said.
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A screen shows the Dow Jones Industrial Average after the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange floor in New York City. (Jeenah Moon/Reuters)
Prosecutors also said Nourafchan and his partner, New York lawyer Robert Yadgarov, allegedly bribed other lawyers and industry insiders to obtain confidential information in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
From there, Nourafchan and Yadgarov would provide information to a network of traders and other middlemen, including Gavryel Silverstein and Lorenzo Nourafchan, who would pass it on to other people, according to federal authorities.
The brokers would then trade on Nourafchan and Yadgarov’s behalf – or on their behalf – to receive payments, or pass on information to other brokers with the ultimate goal of profiting from the deals.
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The authorities have arrested 19 people for crimes stemming from this conspiracy which is suspected to have dragged on for ten years. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters)
In one incident, Nourafchan took a “break” from her job at the law firm and viewed confidential documents related to the iRobot acquisition – which were later abandoned, prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said the brokers – located overseas and in states such as California, Florida, New York and New Jersey – are suspected of conducting transactions based on confidential information stemming from nearly 30 deals involving several public companies, including some of the largest deals of the past decade.
They often spoke in code in an attempt to avoid law enforcement detection, authorities added.
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The 30 defendants face a number of charges, including conspiracy to commit fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, prosecutors said.
“Anyone who does insider trading is undermining the trust necessary for our financial markets to function,” Docks said, adding, “The FBI is committed to making sure those markets are fair, not just to benefit those who have friends in the know.”
