Despite his Ivy League pedigree, Nourafchan was a midlevel deal lawyer who hopped among prestigious firms. He got his start at Sidley Austin and spent a few years at Latham & Watkins before he was let go in 2021. Goodwin terminated him in August 2023 after he hadn’t worked on a billable matter for months.
His main reason for showing up at the office, according to court records and people familiar with the matter, was to sift through computer systems to uncover pending deals that he could sell to an ever-growing ring of traders in Florida, New York, Russia and Israel. He even tried to get hired at a public-relations firm that worked on mergers after he left his last law-firm role, hoping to scoop up more tips there, prosecutors said.
Source: The Insider-Trading Scandal That Is Rocking M&A Law Firms – WSJ