SAC Capital Indictment: Billionaire Steven Cohen's Firm Hit With Insider Trading Charges

By Adam Ramirez on July 25, 2013 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

SAC Capital, one of Wall Street's biggest hedge funds founded by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, has been indicted for insider training.

The 41-page federal indictment (attached below) is one of the most high-profile insider trading cases in U.S. history.

SAC Capital (the firm bears Cohen's initials) engaged in a decade-long scheme of profiting from non-public information from employees of publicly-traded companies and other sources, the indictment alleges.

The scheme "was substantial, pervasive and on a scale without known precedent in the hedge fund industry," according to the indictment, blaming "institutional indifference" to unlawful conduct.

This could mean the end for Cohen's legendary Wall Street career. He is one of the highest-profile figures in U.S. finance with a net worth of $8.8 billion, according to Forbes. Ranked the No. 40 richest American, he is among an elite group of hedge fund managers to personally earn at least $1 billion a year.

Along with the criminal charges, federal prosecutors filed a civil forfeiture complaint seeking to recover millions of dollars in gains from insider trading offenses.

SAC Indictment Billionaire Steven a. Cohen Firm Insider Trading