SEC not done with probe involving hedge funder Steve Cohen

The Securities and Exchange Commission isn’t done with hedge funder Steve Cohen.

The regulatory agency will look to Michael Steinberg, a former trader at Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors – now known as Point72 Asset Management – to prove its “failure to supervise” case against the hedge fund billionaire, according to court papers filed Monday. Steinberg’s December 2013 insider trading conviction was dismissed in October. 

While the SEC will no longer argue that Cohen failed to supervise the former SAC lieutenant, it still plans to offer evidence concerning Cohen’s oversight of Steinberg to prove its case against fellow SAC trader Mathew Martoma, according to the New York Post.

The SEC put its two-and-a-half-year case against Cohen on hold while pursuing criminal investigations against Steinberg and Martoma. Both traders were convicted of insider trading, but Steinberg’s case was dismissed and Martoma is appealing.

SAC Capital pled guilty to insider trading in 2013 and agreed to pay the federal government a total of $1.8 billion while returning investors’ money. The firm subsequently changed its name and downsized to only managing Cohen’s own $12 billion fortune.

Cohen’s luxury real estate dealings in the city are of particular note. His 9,000-square-foot One Beacon Court duplex is reportedly “jinxed,” with the billionaire unable to offload the four-bedroom pad and forced to slash his asking price on several occasions – most recently down to a mere $79 million. [NYP] – Rey Mashayekhi