According to the US, Michael Steinberg of SAC Capital Advisors LP should have received more than five years in prison for his insider trading conviction when he appears before a judge to get his sentence later this week. The government is also reportedly seeking a $365,000 forfeiture, Bloomberg said. federal sentencing guidelines in the US calls for someone guilty of insider trading should get between 5 1/4 to 6 1/2 years in jail, prosecutors have stated in a May 9 court filing.
In rejecting Steinberg's argument that he is the least culpable in the insider-trading scheme at SAC, the government said, "Steinberg benefited from a much more wide-ranging conspiracy in which multiple analysts pursued multiple sources."
Bloomberg said Steinberg is among the eight former and current employees of SAC who had been indicted in a government probe of insider trading at the Steve Cohen-founded hedge fund company. Steinberg is the longest-serving manager who had been convicted of the crime, and will be handed out his sentence in Manhattan federal court on May 16. A jury has convicted him of using illegal tips on technology stocks provided by Jon Horvath, his former securities analyst. He was able to reap over $1.4 million in illicit profit as a result of his doing. Horvath, on the other hand, will be facing sentencing in September as well.
SAC has since tried to start afresh and has distanced itself from the insider trading scandal. A federal judge last month has given approval of the $1.8 billion settlement reached between SAC and the US government. SAC Capital, who has since then changed its name to Point72 Asset Management LP, admitted to reaping hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profits and fostering a criminality culture for failing to curb insider trading by its own employees.
