U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26551, dated May 7, 2026.
The SEC charged 21 individuals with participating in a wide-reaching insider trading scheme. The scheme involved lawyers misappropriating confidential information about corporate deals and tipping it to others who traded on the information, generating millions in illicit profits. A parallel criminal action was also announced.
In Plain English
Imagine a group of friends who learn about big company secrets, like when one company is going to buy another. They get this secret information before anyone else. They then use this secret information to buy or sell stocks, making a lot of money because they know what's going to happen before the rest of the market. The SEC is taking action against these individuals for this illegal activity.
Disclaimer: all facts are drawn from the SEC's own filings; the claims described are allegations unless and until a court rules or the parties settle, and some cases end in dismissal.
How the Alleged Scheme Worked
- Information Misappropriation Between 2018 and 2024, Nicolo Nourafchan, an M&A attorney, allegedly misappropriated material nonpublic information about at least a dozen impending corporate transactions from his law firm employers.
- Initial Tipping Nourafchan then tipped this confidential information to Robert Yadgarov and others, initiating a chain of illegal trading.
- Recruiting Another Lawyer Nourafchan and Yadgarov also recruited Gabriel Gershowitz, another corporate lawyer, who began tipping them with material nonpublic information obtained from his law firm employers starting in April 2019.
- Kickback Agreements Individuals who received tips, such as David Bratslavsky, agreed to kick back a portion of their trading profits to Nourafchan and/or Yadgarov in exchange for the information.
- Brother's Involvement By July 2022, Nourafchan began tipping his brother, Lorenzo Nourafchan, who in turn tipped his hair stylist, Miakel Bishay, in advance of at least two Deals.
- Further Tipping Chain Bishay agreed to pay Lorenzo Nourafchan a kickback and communicated certain confidential information to his friend Nowel Milik, who also paid Bishay for the information and traded on it.
- Middleman Role Gavryel Silverstein acted as a middleman, receiving tips from Nourafchan and/or Yadgarov and recruiting several co-defendants to trade on this information, collecting a portion of the profits.
- Widespread Trading Silverstein's recruits, in turn, brought in additional traders, most residing in New York or Florida, who also traded on the inside information and kicked back profits up the chain.
- Millions in Illicit Profits Collectively, Nourafchan, Yadgarov, their co-defendants, and an unnamed 'Foreign Trader 1' generated millions of dollars in illicit profits by trading securities of numerous U.S. companies.
The Enforcement Action
On May 6, 2026, the SEC filed charges against 21 individuals for their alleged involvement in an insider trading scheme that used information misappropriated from multiple global law firms and netted scheme participants millions of dollars in illicit profits. The SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, charges the defendants with violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts announced criminal charges against all the defendants in this case.