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Hedge Fund SAC Capital Charged With Fraud

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Criminal charges against a big hedge fund and a tougher new posture in Washington on Wall Street.

In this courtroom sketch by Elizabeth Williams, Attorney Marty Klotz, left, General Council for SAC Capital Advisors LP, Peter Nussbaum, center, attorney Ted Wells, right, and assistant US attorney Arlo Devlin Brown, foreground, appear before judge Laura Taylor Swain, Friday, July 26, 2013, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)
In this courtroom sketch by Elizabeth Williams, Attorney Marty Klotz, left, General Council for SAC Capital Advisors LP, Peter Nussbaum, center, attorney Ted Wells, right, and assistant US attorney Arlo Devlin Brown, foreground, appear before judge Laura Taylor Swain, Friday, July 26, 2013, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams/AP)

Mega hedge fund trader Steven Cohen was partying bigtime in the Hamptons this weekend. And his personal fortune is pegged at $9 billion, so don’t get too weepy too quickly for the man. But Cohen’s hedge fund, SAC Capital, is in big trouble today.

Facing a slew of federal indictments for insider trading. In the biz, Cohen is seen a little like the Yankee’s A-Rod. Maybe he wasn’t cheating, maybe he cheated a little, maybe he cheated the whole time. And the feds? Are they really getting tougher? Or is this their “Mission Accomplished” banner?

This hour On Point: big indictments, and is this “getting tough” on Wall Street?
- Tom Ashbrook

Guests

Ben Protess, business reporter for The New York Times, former Huffington Post investigative fund reporter.

Gregory Zuckerman, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, covering money and investing. Author of "The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-The-Scenes Story Of How John Paulson Defies Wall Street And Made Financial History." (@GZuckerman)

Jonathan Weil, columnist for Bloomberg News, former reporter for The Wall Street Journal, winner of the American Business Editors and Writers’ Best in Business Journalism Award in 2009 and 2010. (@JonathanWeil)

From Tom's Reading List

Bloomberg: Cases Against Steven Cohen, SAC Won’t Be a Slam Dunk: "Keep this in mind when it comes to the latest allegations against Steven A. Cohen and his hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors LP: There are few easy wins for the government in high-profile trials of white-collar defendants."

The New York Times: SAC Capital Is Arraigned On A Raft Of Criminal Charges: "In a brief proceeding in Federal District Court in Lower Manhattan, the hedge fund was arraigned on a raft of criminal insider trading charges, making it the first large American company to face an indictment in more than a decade. The appearance came a day after prosecutors announced the case against SAC, run by the billionaire Steven A. Cohen, calling it a 'veritable magnet of market cheaters.'"

NPR: Hedge Fund SAC Capital Pleads Not Guilty To Fraud Charges: "Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Apps told a federal judge in Manhattan that 'voluminous' evidence, including "electronic messages, instant messages, court-ordered wiretaps and consensual recordings" existed to prove that SAC Capital knowingly participated in insider trading over a 10-year period."

This program aired on July 29, 2013.

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