Nicolo “Gorgeous” Nourafchan, and his brother Lorenzo Nourafchan, both pleaded not guilty today in Federal District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, to insider trading. Nicolo hired the most prominent, and expensive, lawyer in Boston, one Martin Weinberg, who recently obtained the acquittal of Karen Read, who was tried for murdering her police officer boyfriend by hitting him with her SUV and leaving him in the snow to die after a night of heavy drinking. Nicolo must be paying Martin at least a million dollar retainer to defend him in this high profile case where Nicolo is accused of being the ring leader of this conspiracy.

Back at Yale Law School, ten or so years ago, Nicolo was a party animal and a playboy. Nicolo was a womanizer. One of the Rabbis in New Haven told him not to come to his synagogue because one of the girls complained about his aggressive behavior. Nicolo was clean shaven at the time, put a tallis over his head and frequently gyrated and waved his hands in the air as he prayed at the Yale synagogue. I was there. I watched him. Nicolo prayed in Sephardi style, as his family were Persian Jews from Italy. Fast forward to today. Nicolo is no longer clean shaven. Nicolo is dressed up like an Ashkanazi rabbi with a long beard. I didn’t recognize him from the photos. But then I saw a small devious smile on his bearded face. He is still the old Nicolo, and the old Nicolo used Jewish code words with his co-conspirators in an attempt to hide their references to insider trading. Did they think that the attorneys at the DOJ would not be able to figure out that they were using code words? Did they think that the DOJ lawyers, who also graduated from Ivy League schools, were that stupid?

These are some of the code words and phrases that Nicolo and his co-conspirators used to try to hide their tracks, copied out of the SEC complaint and DOJ indictment:

“Yadgarov texted Bratslavsky asking him if he was around for mincha [Jewish afternoon prayer service] and learning, which in this context was code for passing inside information. Bratslavsky responded that he was around; they met later that day.”

“Simon Fensterszaub messaged Hatanian: “I am running around on errands today. I hope to find out today when the Rabbi’s surgery is going to take place. ” “Rabbi’s surgery” was a coded reference to the announcement of the Amazon-iRobot transaction. Hatanian responded: “ok please let me know – I am praying!” At one point, Simon Fensterszaub noted that he had “a friend that would like to donate towards the surgery but he wants to know when the surgery is scheduled for.” Fensterszaub was referring to a friend who wanted to participate in the insider trading scheme. They continued to discuss the date of the transaction, even questioning whether it was going to occur at all. “Is he still scheduled for surgery?” “We are still waiting for the Dr. to check if it’s still needed,” Silverstein responded. Fensterszaub and Silverstein discussed whether Silverstein had any further information about the Amazon-iRobot transaction—i.e., “how the Rabbi is feeling.” What a Tzadik your friend is. Hopefully will get the
date of the surgery soon. Simon Fensterszaub messaged Eli Kavian: “I have some more information. Kavian responded, “Yalla… Yallaaaaaaaa!!”

“Eli Kavian sent Simon Fensterszaub a screen capture showing trading data for Momentive, which was depicted as trading at $7.74 per share. Soon thereafter, Eli Kavian messaged Simon Fensterszaub “Inshallah,” an Arabic expression meaning “God willing.”

M. FENSTERSZAUB messaged SILVERSTEIN: “We need that damn rebbe already.” “We might be starting to learn next week god willing.” “At this point I might just start learning the Koran.” “Did you speak to Moshe about the learning?” and then added, “You don’t need to learn Koran anymore.”

At one point Nicolo was discharged from the law firm where he worked and his co-conspirator traders and investors were worried that he wouldn’t have any more information for them, and Nicolo would still expect money from them. This is their exchange: Silverstein told Fensterszaub: “But listen to this-listen to this, he’s like, ‘we’re gonna have another good one coming soon.’ He told me, he obviously doesn’t work anymore but um, he has uh, this other shul that now is uh going on full-full on …First of all, either way, we owe what we owe, that’s if he was coming and he said he has nothing-let’s say he’s not davening or doing any torahs, mitzvahs let’s say he said ‘I don’t have anything, f”ck you, give me my money.’ We’d still be like alright, torah and mitzvahs. We gotta do what we gotta do.”

The co-conspirators at one point were nervous about waiting for Nicolo to get another job at a mergers and acquisitions law firm: “I’m waiting for your boy to get a job.” “Yeah he interviewed at, like, a bunch of places. He’s waiting to hear back. He, listen I Listen, the fact of the matter is he’s done this forever, so, like, he’s hurting. You understand?” “Dude we need a flight that’s what we need, we need a flight I we need a couple shekels,” “It’s amazing how he just only works in those type of firms f*cking hilarious I mean it’s the only reason why he did it that type of law, f*cking genius.” “Genius.” “Yeah, seriously. He really is.”

The DOJ and the Federal Judge have granted Nicolo’s request that his attorneys fees be paid by his brother Lorenzo from funds generated by the sale of Lorenzo’s business. The court conducted a hearing that required Nicolo to waive any conflict of interest in having his legal fees be paid by a co-conspirator defendant in the case. See docket entry below

COURT DOCKET ENTRIES:

Plea entered by Pedram Fejal, Brian Fensterszaub, Mark Fensterszaub, Simon Fensterszaub, Yisroel Horowitz Not Guilty on all counts; Plea entered by David Moradi, David Ostrov, Yechiel Salzberg Not Guilty on all counts Plea entered by Abraham Shilian, Gavryel Silverstein, Joseph Suskind, Robert Yadgarov Not Guilty on all counts Arraignment as to Nicolo Nourafchan (10) Count 1,2,3,4,5,9,10 held on 6/1/2026, Plea entered by Nicolo Nourafchan Not Guilty on all counts Hearing re Potential Conflicts of Interest as to Nicolo Nourafchan, Lorenzo Nourafchan held on 6/1/2026; case called; Dfts. Nicolo Nourafchan and Lorenzo Nourafchan are sworn; USMJ Dein conducts colloquy with defendants on their right to have counsel free of actual conflicts of interest and the potential for a conflicts of interest that may arise by a lawyer being compensated by someone other than the client, and as here, accepting compensation from a defendant in a related indictment; Nicolo Nourafchan and Lorenzo Nourafchan acknowledge they understand the possible risks; USMJ Dein finds waiver is made freely and voluntarily and both defendants understand this arrangement and consent to it.

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