The Curious Career of Steven Cohen
Robert Abbott, 07 November 2017
Few investment gurus have as controversial a record as Steven Cohen (Trades, Portfolio). He has won acclaim for outstanding returns over the long term, he’s been cursed for the way he does business by other Wall Streeters and he was at the center of an insider trading scandal, one that saw several of his traders convicted.
Cohen himself escaped conviction, but his firm paid out almost $2 billion and accepted a two-year ban on non-family and non-employee trading to settle with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Who is Cohen?
Cohen was born in 1956 and grew up in Long Island. According to a Business Insider article, he worked at a supermarket as a boy, but quit because he was making more playing poker. He later said he learned to take risks through poker. Poker gave way to stock trading, at least partially, and he is said to have traded between classes while attending the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
