SAC Capital Advisers attempts to settle US insider trading charges
LAWYERS for Steven A Cohen’s embattled $14bn hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, have reached out to US prosecutors in Manhattan to try to settle insider trading charges, Bloomberg Businessweek reported yesterday.
SAC’s overture to prosecutors is an attempt to strike a deal that would involve paying a fine of as much as $1bn, according to the report, which cited anonymous sources.
The US government charged the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm on 25 July with securities and wire fraud, saying SAC presided over a culture in which employees flouted the law and were encouraged to tap their personal networks for inside information about publicly traded companies.
Prosecutors simultaneously filed a related civil case against SAC, seeking forfeitures and money laundering penalties. Cohen was not charged as an individual, but earlier in July the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil administrative proceeding against him, accusing him of failing to supervise two one-time employees