Biglaw

Biglaw Associate Fired When Her Husband Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading

Embroiled in scandal, the former Biglaw associate tries to rebuild her career.

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Menglu Wang

Menglu Wang had a bright career ahead of her. A Harvard Law grad, and former editor of the Harvard International Law Journal, she’d scored the Biglaw dream job, working as a corporate associate at Linklaters. Then her husband, MIT research scientist Fei Yan, was arrested for insider trading.

But wait — it gets worse. The stock in question was of a Linklaters client… and Wang was staffed on the deal. Oh, and according to prosecutors, he read an article titled, “Want to Commit Insider Trading? Here’s How Not To Do It.” As reported by Law.com:

According to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, Yan used inside information about Linklaters client Sibanye Gold’s $2.2 billion acquisition of Stillwater Mining in 2016 to buy stock options in Stillwater. His wife had worked on the Sibanye transaction. Yan then off-loaded his stock options on the day the deal was announced, for a profit of more than $100,000.

This week, Yan pleaded guilty to insider trading.

Linklaters suspended Wang after Yan’s July arrest, eventually cutting ties with her. Her lawyer maintains her innocence in the scandal:

“There were a number of innocent bystanders. She is one of them. She is not a target. It’s an unfortunate side effect that she lost her job,” said Wang’s lawyer, Wayne Gosnell of Clayman & Rosenberg in New York. Gosnell declined to comment about the specifics of the case.

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Best of luck to Wang as she tries to rebuild her legal career. It’s bound to be an uphill battle.

headshotKathryn Rubino is an editor at Above the Law. 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).

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