White Collar Alert

For those of us following the prosecutions of SAC Capital Advisors LP, today marked another milestone in U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara’s quest against insider-trading.  Mathew Martoma, ex-SAC fund manager and pharmaceutical-industry analyst, was found guilty this afternoon of one count of conspiracy and two counts of securities fraud.  He became the seventy-ninth consecutive individual to have pled guilty or to have been convicted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the federal government’s recent crackdown on insider-trading.

After deliberating for two days, federal jurors concluded that Martoma received insider information regarding Alzheimer’s disease drug trials and manipulated the information to trade large blocks of Elan Corp. and Wyeth shares.  Ultimately, Martoma made profits for SAC amounting to $276 million.

And yet, despite seven consecutive convictions of SAC fund managers, the million dollar question remains: will Martoma’s conviction add enough fuel to Bharara’s fire to motivate the U.S. Attorney’s Office to pursue a prosecution against SAC kingpin Steven Cohen?