SAC Capital will pay a record $600 million settlement in connection with insider trading charges brought by regulators; however, the firm says the probe of its practices isn’t over yet. It says the settlement only resolves two cases.
The Wall Street Journal reports that SAC Capital President Tom Conheeney told investors in a conference call today that the two agreements with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) does not put an end to the scrutiny the firm has been under in recent years. However he did call the settlements “an important first step.”
The conference call took about 20 minutes, and the firm did not take any questions from clients. SAC’s general counsel said that the amount of the penalty reflects the firm’s profits in the two insider trading allegations. He said it didn’t take into account “other issues.”
SAC Capital will pay the penalty itself, which amounts to a $282 million disgorgement of profits that regulators allege were improper, $52 million worth of interest in the five years since the trades occurred. SAC’s attorney said if the cases had gone to trial and the SEC won, regulators could have asked for three times as much as the settlement offer.
The firm has not admitted to or denied the insider trading allegations. It also said that when considering the settlement agreements, the firm took into account the impact of the investigation on founder Steve Cohen and the firm’s employees and clients.
A spokesperson for SAC Capital chose not to comment on The Wall Street Journal’s story.
