Employee of Wilson Sonsini is charged with insider trading; firm calls case 'deeply disturbing'
An information technology worker at a powerhouse Silicon Valley law firm was arrested Tuesday in an insider-trading case.
Dmitry Braverman, 41, is accused of using information he learned from his work at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati about potential mergers and acquisitions when purchasing stock. He faces a single count of securities fraud in federal court in Manhattan.
Prosecutors contend Braverman was able to figure out the names of companies with pending deals because he had access to client bills and to records created when conflicts checks were done on new matters, Bloomberg reports.
CNBC, the New York Times’ DealBook blog (reg. req.) and Reuters also have stories.
In a written statement provided by a spokeswoman, the law firm called the case “deeply disturbing to say the least,” news articles report.
“Client confidentiality is at the center of all we do, and we have strict policies and internal controls established to protect it,” the firm wrote. “We have and will continue to provide our full support to the federal investigation.”
Braverman was put on unpaid leave by Wilson Sonsini after his arrest in San Mateo, California.
He was also named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit filed today by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
A former Wilson Sonsini employee, associate attorney Matthew Kluger, was sentenced in 2012 to a record 12-year term for funneling confidential information he obtained while working at four major law firms into a $37 million insider-trading scheme.
Prosecutors said Braverman put his scheme on hold in 2011 after Kluger was arrested in an unrelated insider-trading case in New Jersey. At the time, court documents say, Wilson Sonsini’s general counsel also emailed workers reminding them of law firm rules about insider trading, Reuters reports.
But in November 2012, less than six months after Kluger was sentenced, authorities say Braverman opened a new brokerage account in Russia under a relative’s name and reactivated his claimed scheme.
The feds say he made nearly $300,000 in illegal profits between 2010 and 2013.
The articles don’t include any comment from Braverman or his legal counsel.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “Ex-BigLaw Associate Sentenced to Record 12 Years Says ‘Excitement’ Drove $37M Insider-Trading Scheme”
