Ex-Willkie Lawyer Pleaded Guilty in M&A Insider-Trading Case

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher counsel is cooperating with prosecutors after pleading guilty to being one of the elite mergers and acquisitions lawyers who provided tips on deals to a massive insider trading ring.

Gabriel Gershowitz is one of the 30 people against whom charges were unsealed Wednesday by federal prosecutors in Boston. But additional unsealed documents show Gershowitz and eight others have already pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the government.

According to the indictments, as well as a parallel suit filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, Nicolo Nourafchan, a 2011 Yale Law School graduate who worked at three large firms from 2013 to 2023, stole confidential deal information from those employers. He allegedly conspired with an undergraduate classmate at George Washington University, Robert Yadgarov, to recruit other corporate lawyers to tip off a network of relatives, friends, classmates and associates.

“Willkie is aware that a former employee is alleged to have engaged in conduct that would constitute a severe violation of our clear and well-defined compliance policies, which we take seriously and enforce across the firm,” the firm said in a statement Thursday. “There are no allegations of wrongdoing against the firm, which has and will continue to cooperate fully with the investigation of this matter.”

College Classmates

The SEC identified Gershowitz in its suit as one of Nourafchan and Yadgarov’s recruits. A college classmate of theirs, Gershowitz went on to Columbia Law School and subsequently worked at a number of large firms. Though authorities didn’t identify any of the firms targeted for information, Nourafchan’s previous employers included Goodwin Procter and Latham & Watkins. Another alleged co-conspirator worked at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.

Gershowitz pleaded guilty in February 2025. His sentencing, which is currently scheduled for November, has been repeatedly postponed at the request of the government, citing his ongoing cooperation. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence of two years in prison, according to court filings. A lawyer for Gershowitz didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.

Gershowitz also previously worked at Weil, Gotshal & Manges as well as Willkie, Among the deals the ring traded on was a $2.5 billion combination of Ardagh SA’s metal packaging business with the former Exal Group in 2019. Weil advised Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, Exal’s owner in that deal.

“The former employee who misused confidential information as part of a large-scale insider trading scheme has not been associated with the firm for over six years and the transaction involved dates back to 2019,” Weil said in a statement. “As reflected in the government’s filings, Weil was among the victims of the alleged scheme. The firm cooperated fully with the US Attorney’s Office.”

Reduced Kickback

The ring also traded on insurer Enstar Group’s July 2024 announcement of a deal to be acquired by Sixth Street Partners for around $5 billion.

Authorities allege the defendants went to great lengths to conceal their activity, using burner phones, encrypted applications and clandestine meetings. According to the SEC, Gershowitz met with Nourafchan and Yadgarov in May 2024 at a New York bookstore. Then at Willkie, Gershowitz was allegedly staffed on the Enstar deal a month earlier because his employer was advising Sixth Street.

He shared news about the the deal with his former classmates, who told him a few days later they had purchased between $2 million and $3 million in Enstar shares, according to the SEC. After the deal was announced, Gershowitz was allegedly due a $30,000 kickback but received a smaller amount because he owed Yadgarov money he’d borrowed for apartment renovations.

A lawyer for Nourafchan didn’t respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the defendants who who have pleaded guilty didn’t respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment on Thursday. Lawyers for several of the other defendants couldn’t immediately be identified.

--With assistance from Tatyana Monnay and Meghan Tribe.

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