Yesterday, Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge Laura Swain approved SAC Capital Advisors LP’s (“SAC”) guilty plea. The fund admitted to accepting illegitimate profits and promoting insider trading among its employees. SAC will pay a $900 million criminal penalty, which is part of its $1.8 billion settlement with the Justice Department. SAC, once one of the most high profile and top performing funds in the industry, will be under an independent federal compliance monitor and will manage money only for its founder, Steven A. Cohen. SAC, originally drew inquiry from the Justice Department a decade ago. Mr. Cohen has not been indicted of any criminal wrongdoing but the SEC continues with its also long-running civil investigation into his supervisory activities, pushing forward to figure out what Mr. Cohen did and did not know about his employees’ activities.
