AppliedAI founder Arya Bolurfrushan pleaded guilty in 2025 in law-firm insider trading scheme

According to CNBC, Arya Bolurfrushan, founder and CEO of Abu Dhabi-based AppliedAI and a former Goldman Sachs banker, secretly pleaded guilty in June 2025 to conspiring to commit securities fraud in a long-running insider trading scheme involving attorneys at major law firms tipping traders about mergers their employers advised on, court records unsealed Monday showed. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a two-year prison sentence and said Bolurfrushan would forfeit $954,496; the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also said it settled related civil claims against him on Monday. Authorities said Bolurfrushan traded on tips from Nicolo Nourafchan, a former associate at Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins and Goodwin Procter, and personal injury attorney Robert Yadgarov, including a September 2023 tip about Kyowa Kirin Co Ltd’s planned acquisition of Orchard Therapeutics and a mid-2024 tip about Sixth Street’s plans to acquire Enstar for $5.1 billion; the SEC said Bolurfrushan earned $950,000 in trading profits and paid about $60,000 to Nourafchan and Yadgarov. Nourafchan and Yadgarov pleaded not guilty last month and are awaiting trial.