SEC Charges 21 Individuals in Alleged Decade-Long Insider Trading Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged 21 individuals with involvement in an alleged insider trading scheme that operated over a six-year period between 2018 and 2024. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, details how attorneys Nicolo Nourafchan and Robert Yadgarov allegedly misappropriated material nonpublic information from clients regarding more than twelve pending corporate transactions.

According to the SEC, the scheme centred on Nourafchan, a mergers and acquisitions attorney based in Los Angeles, and his partner Yadgarov, of Long Beach, New York. They are accused of orchestrating a global network where confidential information was tipped to participants who traded for illicit profits or recruited others to do the same. The alleged conduct involved the misappropriation of data from multiple global law firms, resulting in millions of dollars in illegal gains.

Joseph G. Sansone, Chief of the Division of Enforcement's Market Abuse Unit, stated that the action underscores the regulator's commitment to holding individuals accountable across the entire tipping chain of fraudulent behaviour. The SEC alleges that Nourafchan and Yadgarov recruited additional corporate lawyers to assist in the scheme, creating a complex web of information sharing designed to exploit pending deals before they were made public.

In addition to the civil complaint, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts has announced parallel criminal charges against all defendants. The SEC seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties to address the financial harm caused by the alleged fraud. This coordinated approach highlights the severity with which authorities view the exploitation of material nonpublic information within the legal and financial sectors.

The investigation benefited from the assistance of several international regulators, including the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority, the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission, the Mauritius Financial Services Commission, and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority. This cross-border cooperation reflects the global nature of the alleged misconduct and the need for unified enforcement actions against sophisticated market abuse.