US Attorney's Office urges judge to approve SAC Capital $900 M Penalty

Bloomberg said US prosecutors had requested a court judge to accept SAC Capital Advisors LP's plea agreement worth $900 million to settle insider trading charges. The government is seeking for the biggest criminal fine that will be imposed on an entity for insider trading after six years of investigating Steve Cohen's firm's activities.

Yesterday, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara's office asked US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain to give her approval on the agreement, which is part of a $1.8 billion settlement. One part of the agreement also calls for the shuttering of SAC Capital's investment advisory business, the news agency said. Swain is set to hand out her ruling over the matter on April 10 and sentence the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm.

Assistant US attorneys Antonia Apps, Arlo Devlin-Brown and John Zach said in their memo to Swain, "The financial penalty being sought is steep but fair: it represents an appropriate punishment in light of the breadth and duration of the criminal conduct at SAC Capital, and deters similar misconduct at other institutions. That criminal conduct included (but is not limited to) the actions of eight SAC employees who have either plead guilty or been found guilty at trial of engaging insider trading."

In November of last year, SAC Capital submitted a guilty plea to securities fraud and wire fraud after the firm had allowed eight of its employees to engage in insider trading beginning 1999. According to Swain, she needed the time to review the case well and hand out a ruling regarding the agreement.

Also yesterday, the US government also filed a separate response to an former SAC capital fund manager's request to overturn his conviction. The US argued that Mathew Martoma does not deserve a new trial because the evidence that had proven the extent of his involvement in the most lucrative insider-trading scheme was overwhelming.

Tags

SAC Capital Advisors, Steve Cohen, Mathew Martoma

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