SAC Capital Advisors pleaded not guilty to security and wire fraud charges in federal court in New York on Friday.
Yesterday, the Department of Justice filed criminal charges against SAC Capital. Three of the hedge fund’s affiliates have been charged with four counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud.
Not guilty plea by SAC Capital Advisors
SAC’s general counsel, Peter Nussbaum, flanked by five high-powered defense lawyers, entered the non-guilty plea before U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in New York.
41-page indictment by prosecutors
In their 41-page indictment, prosecutors earlier charged SAC Capital Advisors and its subsidiaries with carrying out a broad insider trading scheme between 1999 and 2010.
According to the indictment, as a result of committing the alleged offenses, SAC Capital and the other defendants shall forfeit to the United States, all property, real and personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the commission of those offenses.
Earlier, it was reported that U.S. prosecutors have concluded that they don’t have sufficient evidence to convict Steve Cohen before a July deadline.
The DOJ identified individual defendants in the case as Wes Wang, Richard Choo-Beng Lee, and Jon Horvath, SAC Capital research analysts previously employed by the hedge fund’s affiliate Sigma Capital. They obtained insider information from technology companies and provided trading ideas to their portfolio managers using the information. The three staff members pled guilty for conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Lee also pled guilty to committing wire fraud.
Next hearing on September 24
Prosecutors will have 60 days for the discovery process.
The next hearing date for the case was set for September 24 by the judge.
Meanwhile, the prosecutors will contact several former employees of SAC to participate in the process. Besides, the prosecutors will also contact other companies that might have been involved in insider trading at the hedge fund.
Tremendous volume of evidence
‘Court-authorized wiretaps’ and a ‘large number of electronic recordings’ besides emails and instant messages have been obtained as evidence. An Assistant U.S. attorney, Antonia Apps termed the evidence as ‘tremendous volume’.
