Every time we think we have a handle on the scope of the Biglaw insider trading scheme that rocked elite M&A practices last week, it gets a little bigger. First it was Yale Law grad Nicolo Nourafchan and his network of well-placed insiders. Then a cooperating former Willkie Farr counsel was identified, and a Wachtell co-conspirator surfaced. Now the Wachtell attorney referenced in the indictment as “CC-2” has a name: Avi Sutton, former Wachtell attorney and, until very recently, general counsel and chief operating officer of boutique investment bank LionTree.

Sutton, who was an associate at Wachtell from 2013 to 2022, was identified by Reuters as the unnamed former Wachtell attorney referenced in one of the indictments unsealed last Wednesday, when prosecutors unveiled charges against 30 people in the decade-long scheme. He is not among those charged and was not identified by name in the indictments. After leaving Wachtell, Sutton joined boutique investment bank LionTree in 2022, becoming its general counsel and chief operating officer. New York-based LionTree focuses on technology, media, and telecommunications deals.

For those keeping score at home, the scheme at the center of this case — orchestrated by Yale Law grad and serial Biglaw firm-hopper Nourafchan and his co-conspirator Robert Yadgarov — worked like this: Nourafchan and Yadgarov recruited attorneys with access to confidential information at elite firms, paid them kickbacks of up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, and then fed those tips through a layered network of traders and middlemen who placed trades ahead of nearly 30 public merger announcements, using burner phones, encrypted apps, and coded language, including referring to tips as airline “flights” and upcoming deal announcements as dates when a “rabbi” was scheduled for surgery. The whole thing generated tens of millions of dollars in illicit profits and is one of the largest insider trading cases charged in years.

According to the indictment, CC-2’s first alleged tip came in 2014, when he passed information to Nourafchan and Yadgarov ganrned from his time at Wachtell that Tim Hortons was potentially about to be acquired by Burger King. The pair informed a complicit trader who used a shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands to purchase securities, held in a Russian brokerage account. The alleged conduct continued through Sutton’s time at Wachtell and apparently beyond, with the indictment’s description of CC-2 covering his move to the investment bank as well.

LionTree’s response was swift. The firm said in a statement: “The individual in question was immediately placed on leave and is no longer active at the firm.” The company added that it was “aware of the filing identifying LionTree as one of many victims in this alleged scheme” and that “there are no allegations of wrongdoing against the firm.” And, yes, Sutton’s info was yanked from the website.

Wachtell’s statement: “The responsible party left Wachtell Lipton over four years ago. There are no allegations of wrongdoing against the Firm. Wachtell Lipton has cooperated fully with the U.S. Attorney’s office and will continue to do so.”

Longtime readers of Above the Law have met Avi Sutton before. Way back in April 2013 (before Suttonis alleged to have become involved in the scheme), ATL’s Legal Eagle Wedding Watch featured Sutton and his then-bride Gila Shlomo in a segment that noted, with some enthusiasm, his impressive résumé: summa cum laude at Yale, a summer clerkship at the Israeli Supreme Court, a 3L at Yale Law School, and headed to Wachtell after graduation. The ATL verdict at the time took issue with some of the groom’s quoted remarks about the couple’s different backgrounds, specifically his description of having rationalized the age gap on their first date with the observation that they came from “two different worlds in terms of education and exposure.”

Sutton did go on to build exactly the career his résumé promised: nearly nine years at Wachtell as a corporate attorney specializing in domestic and cross-border transactions, and then, in 2022, the move to LionTree as GC and COO. It is, on paper, a remarkable trajectory. The indictment’s description of CC-2 suggests it was, allegedly, also a remarkably well-monetized one.

Sutton is an unindicted co-conspirator, which means he has not been charged with a crime. Whether that status reflects the government’s assessment of his culpability, his cooperation, or simply where the investigation currently stands is not clear from the public record. What is clear is that the circle of elite legal and financial professionals implicated in this scheme keeps growing.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter @Kathryn1 or Bluesky @Kathryn1

The post The Wachtell Insider Trading Co-Conspirator Has Been Identified appeared first on Above the Law.