SAC to pay $1.8 billion to settle insider trading charges
Reuters, 04 November 2013
Billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen’s days as a hedge fund manager may be finished with an agreement by his SAC Capital Advisors to plead guilty to criminal charges of insider trading and pay a record $1.8 billion in fines and forfeitures.
But Cohen, one of Wall Street’s best known traders, has not been personally charged with any crime and will likely continue managing some $9 billion of his own money through a family office once his hedge fund’s plea deal is cleared by the courts.
Cohen’s fund will shut down its investment advisory business, according to a settlement with prosecutors announced on Monday. SAC Capital is up 1.3 percent in October and up 15.95 percent so far this year, a source familiar with its performance said.
If approved by federal judges, the agreement would also resolve civil forfeiture action against SAC and its affiliates. The deal also requires SAC to install an independent compliance monitor if it continues to trade.