Indian-origin fund mgr gets 9-yr jail term in US
Wednesday, 10/09/2014
http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
WASHINGTON: A Manhattan court on Monday sentenced Indianorigin fund manager Mathew Martoma to nine years in prison in one of the stiffest sentences granted yet for insider trading in the US. Forty-year-old Martoma was also ordered to pay a fine of $9.3 million, the amount he gained from insider trading.
“Today’s sentence is well-suited to the audacity of the illegal trading in this case,” said Preet Bharara, US attorney, whose office prosecuted Martoma.
Martoma’s insider tips helped his former employer, SAC Capital, make $275 million in profits and avoid losses, earning him a bonus of $9 million.
Starting as an SAC employee in 2006, Martoma developed a network of informants to keep him in the loop for the company’s search of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease. The company, Elan and Wyeth, which was funding the research, reported positive results initially, which made Martoma recommend its stocks to SAC Capital. But the research findings were not as expected, an information that Martoma got to know days before the company’s announcement. SAC then got rid of its stocks in the company.
