A Goodwin Procter lawyer linked to insider trading accessed pending M&A deals and recruited Wachtell Lipton/Weil Gotshal lawyers to share tips with traders, prosecutors allege. Nicolo Nourafchan allegedly made winning trades just before major acquisitions handled by his firm, contradicting initial assumptions of foreign hacking.

Investigations traced the well-timed alerts to Nourafchan, who ran a decade-long side hustle providing illicit buyout tips to global traders. The $100M+-valued deals he targeted—ranging from private equity acquisitions to strategic mergers—highlighted how M&A data theft can undermine market integrity.

The scandal underscores risks for elite M&A firms relying on confidential deal information. With $1.2 trillion in annual M&A activity, insider trading at this scale could distort market prices and erode trust in legal advisory services, prompting tighter regulatory scrutiny.