Last week, a federal jury in Manhattan found former SAC portfolio manager, Michael Steinberg, guilty on 5 insider trading charges related to trades he made in the shares of Dell and Nvidia. Steinberg was the highest-ranking employee at SAC Capital Advisors to stand trial for insider trading. Other SAC employees pled guilty to securities fraud and cooperated with the government. His verdict was also reached without the use of wiretap evidence; the evidence was purely circumstantial. A former SAC analyst who was cooperating did testify on behalf of the government, but otherwise, there was no hard evidence against Mr. Steinberg.
The government’s record is now 77 guilty pleas or convictions for insider trading cases over the past four years, out of 87 people charged, including firms and individuals.