Prosecutor exposes phone chat with SAC Capital founder as insider trading trial starts in NY
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A prosecutor says a former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager got inside information about an Alzheimer's drug trial and made a pivotal phone call to his billionaire boss before the hedge fund dumped more than $700 million in pharmaceutical stocks.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlo Devlin-Brown made the allegation Friday during opening statements at the trial of Mathew Martoma.
Martoma was an SAC portfolio manager. Devlin-Brown said Martoma spoke with SAC Capital founder Steven A. Cohen in 2008 a day after learning secret details about Alzheimer's drug tests. The prosecutor said the firm began shedding its shares the next day.
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Defense lawyer Richard Strassberg said prosecutors charged an innocent man.
Cohen has not been criminally charged but has been accused in a civil action of failing to prevent insider trading.