Judge Sets SAC’s Martoma Trial for Inside Trading to November 4

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Mathew Martoma is the first of nine employees of Steve Cohen’s hedge fund to face charges of insider trading. This Wednesday, a federal judge set his trial for November 4, when he will face a criminal trial for these charges. The former portfolio manager is charged with conspiracy and securities fraud, which he pleaded not guilty to in January. The charge specifically concerns his aid of CR Intrinsic Investors, an SAC fund: he used a doctor’s tips about a poor drug trial to recommend they sell Elan Corp and Wyeth shares, thus avoiding $276 million in losses in 2006, as reported by Reuters.

Martoma’s team wants more time, saying the prosecutors are providing only “vague” connections between him and the conspiracy of 2006, but  U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe disagrees with such a necessity, saying, “I don’t view this as a particularly complicated case.”

  

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He was, nevertheless, open to hearing if Martoma’s defense faced “insurmountable difficulties” in preparing the defense. “I’m not closing the door to a later trial date,” said the judge.

Martoma’s lawyer Richard Strassberg had wanted the trial to start as late as February, and this because he says the government may add charges against Martoma in July, which would also need to be prepared for.

SAC fund manager Michel Steinberg, meanwhile, also faces trial in November, on the 18th.