Steven Cohen of SAC Capital Advisors hired David Boies last year to defend him in the Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading probe that has so far resulted in SAC Capital now being unable to manage other people’s investments on top of $1.8 billion in fines and settlements from multiple civil and criminal lawsuits, says a source familiar with the proceedings, report Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Nate Raymond for Reuters.
SAC Capital settled with the SEC, but Steven Cohen maintains his innocence
While SAC Capital has settled with the SEC (and changed its name to Point72 Asset Management), Steven Cohen himself has not been charged with any crime and the SEC’s civil administrative case against him is ongoing. Point72, which now exclusively manages Cohen’s portfolio, has been losing employees to other investment firms ever since it lost the ability to bring in outside investors.
With so many high profile cases under his belt it’s hard to say which of them Boies, of the law firm Boies, Schiller & Flexnor, is best known for. He faced off against Ted Olson in Bush v Gore (representing Al Gore), and then teamed up with Olson later to challenge California’s same-sex marriage ban. He is representing Fannie Mae / Federal National Mortgage Assctn Fnni Me (OTCBB:FNMA) and Freddie Mac / Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp (OTCBB:FMCC) shareholders in a lawsuit against the Federal government and was reportedly on retainer when Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) considered suing activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.
Eight SAC employees either pled or found guilty
Six former SAC Capital employees have pled guilty to counts of insider trading and the two who opted to fight the charges, Mathew Martoma and Michael Steinberg, were both found guilty. Steinberg was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, and Martoma could get more than a decade, the longest sentence for illegal insider trading in US history. He will be sentenced on Tuesday.
Considering the stakes and the resources that he has at his disposal, you would expect Steven Cohen to bring in top legal talent help with his defense, and bringing in an accomplished lawyer like Boies shows that he has been taking the proceedings seriously all along.
Even though no criminal charges have been filed against him, Cohen is by no means out of the woods. Steven Cohen’s proceedings are currently on hold while the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals rules on a matter related to Steinberg’s conviction, but after that he will be back to defending his investment practices, apparently with Boies by his side.
