Black Edge: Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street
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“A lot of people were thinking”: Fishman, “The Taming of the Trading Monster.”
jokes that he “looked good in stripes”: Michael Rothfeld, Jenny Strasburg, and Susan Pulliam, “Prosecutors Pursue Big SAC Settlement,” The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2013.
15. JUSTICE
He made a point of being there by 8 A.M.: Michael Rothfeld, Jenny Strasburg, and Susan Pulliam, “Prosecutors Pursue Big SAC Settlement,” The Wall Street Journal, September 24, 2013.
major investment banks: Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs continued to do business with SAC; Deutsche Bank did pull a line of credit from the firm after the indictment. Jenny Strasburg and Rob Copeland, “SAC Reconsiders Industry Relationships—and Its Name,” The Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2013.
“They’re an important client to us”: Gary Cohn interview with Kate Kelly, CNBC, July 31, 2013.
the company had “trafficked in inside information on a scale without any known precedent”: Preet Bharara prepared remarks, July 25, 2013. See also Peter Lattman and Ben Protess, “SAC Capital Is Indicted, and Called a Magnet for Cheating,” The New York Times, July 25, 2013.
“The tiny fraction of wrongdoers”: Peter Lattman and Ben Protess, “$1.2 Billion Fine for Hedge Fund SAC Capital in Insider Case,” The New York Times, November 4, 2013.
“Dress conservatively”: Kaja Whitehouse and Michelle Celarier, “Steinberg Wife to Pals: No Wearing Bling Near Jury,” New York Post, December 16, 2013.
When Horvath was led into the courtroom: Horvath was born in Sweden, grew up in Toronto, and graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in commerce. U.S. v. Michael Steinberg, No. 12 Cr. 121 (RJS).
how much money Steinberg had made: U.S. v. Michael Steinberg, GX 2004, 2005, and 2006, introduced during testimony of Daniel Berkowitz, November 21, 2013.
a group that included a former postal worker: Christopher M. Matthews, “SAC’s Steinberg Convicted in Insider-Trading Case,” The Wall Street Journal, December 18, 2013.
At 2:59 P.M. on December 18, 2013, the jury took a vote: Alexandra Stevenson and Rachel Abrams, “Insider Jury-Room Demonstration Persuaded Holdouts in Ex-Trader’s Trial,” The New York Times, December 19, 2013.
guilty on all counts: In October 2015, charges against Michael Steinberg were dismissed in the wake of an appeals court decision. See Matthew Goldstein, “U.S. Prosecutor to Drop Insider Trading Cases Against Seven,” The New York Times, October 22, 2015.
16. JUDGMENT
Richard Strassberg, was on the line: Martoma replaced Charles Stillman as his defense lawyer on the case in 2013. Peter Lattman, “Martoma, Former SAC Employee, Changes Lawyers in Insider Case,” The New York Times, April 4, 2013.
On the front page was a headline: Matthew Goldstein and Alexandra Stevenson, “Ex-SAC Trader Was Expelled from Harvard Law School,” The New York Times, January 9, 2014.
this was almost more painful: Martoma said he was devastated. U.S. v. Mathew Martoma, No. 12 Cr. 0973 (PGG), Mathew Martoma Sentencing Memorandum, GX 101, letter from James Tierney.
Martoma, then, became something of a surrogate child: Todd, as it happened, had his own theories about why Gilman became so deeply, destructively enmeshed with the handsome young Martoma. As the trial was unfolding, Todd, who had not spoken to his father since 1991, started writing a proposal for a book about his father. Todd had cut off his relationship with Dr. Gilman because he felt that his father had rejected him for being gay, as was Todd’s older brother, Jeff. The book proposal suggested that Dr. Gilman was “deeply disturbed that both of his sons were gay,” as Todd put it. It then juxtaposed that fact with the ongoing mystery of Dr. Gilman’s decision to jeopardize his reputation and life’s work in furtherance of his relationship with Martoma. “Not My Father’s Keeper: Unveiling the Skeletons in Dr. Sid Gilman’s Closet,” a book proposal by Todd Gilman, Ph.D., October 6, 2014.
“And I think we all agree that that is not a path”: More on Judge Gardephe’s mindset: “From the Trenches: High Profile Trials 2014,” Practicing Law Institute, September 2014.
the word guilty after every count felt like three bullets: U.S. v. Martoma, Martoma Sentencing Memo, GX 65.
the case had left Martoma financially ruined: U.S. v. Martoma, Forfeiture Request, GX A.
after establishing the foundation as a nonprofit: Mathew and Rosemary Martoma Foundation, Form 990, 2011; the foundation did not file 990s for 2012 and 2013.
“There is not, and never was, and never will be”: Patrick Radden Keefe, “The Empire of Edge,” The New Yorker, October 13, 2014.
Stanford stripping Martoma of his business degree: Melissa Korn, “Stanford B-School Strips Diploma of SAC Capital’s Martoma,” The Wall Street Journal, March 5, 2014.
“Given this sequence of events”: U.S. v. Martoma, Memorandum Opinion and Order, September 8, 2014.
EPILOGUE
One of the paintings going up for sale: Katya Kazakina, “Billionaire Cohen Said to Sell $25 Million Dubuffet ‘Paris,’ ” Bloomberg News, April 7, 2015.
“Steve is a very serious, very astute collector”: Carol Vogel, “Steven A. Cohen Was Buyer of Giacometti’s ‘Chariot,’ for $101 Million,” The New York Times, November 10, 2014.
moved on and started his own hedge fund: Saijel Kishan, “Ex-SAC’s Kumin Said to Gather $1 Billion for Hedge Fund Startup,” Bloomberg News, January 14, 2015.
“advisory board”: Juliet Chung and Jenny Strasburg, “Steven A. Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management to Create Advisory Board,” The Wall Street Journal, November 16, 2014.
Cohen’s “family office” was earning him hundreds of millions of dollars a year: Matthew Goldstein, “Profit at Point72, Cohen’s New Firm, Outshines Many a Hedge Fund’s,” The New York Times, January 5, 2015.
It is widely considered one of the artist’s greatest works: “Giacometti’s iconic L’Homme au doigt (Pointing Man),” Impressionist & Modern Art Auction Preview, Christie’s, April 16, 2015.
It was the most money anyone has ever paid for a sculpture at auction: Eileen Kinsella, “Billionaire Steve Cohen Goes on a $240 Million Giacometti Buying Spree,” Artnet News, June 8, 2015; Kelly Crow, “Steven A. Cohen Was Mystery Buyer of $141 Million Sculpture,” The Wall Street Journal, June 8, 2015.
the “Newman decision”: See On Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Brief for Todd Newman in Opposition, USA v. Todd Newman and Anthony Chiasson, No. 15-137, filed by Stephen Fishbein, John Nathanson, and Brian Calandra of Shearman & Sterling.
“Yesterday’s decision”: Interview with Richard Holwell, Bloomberg Television, December 11, 2014.
had their guilty pleas dismissed: In addition to those of Steinberg and Horvath, Bharara dismissed the guilty pleas of five other cooperating witnesses: Jesse Tortora, Spyridon Adondakis, Sandeep Goyal, Danny Kuo, and Hyung Lim. Matthew Goldstein, “U.S. Prosecutor to Drop Insider Trading Cases Against Seven,” The New York Times, October 22, 2015.
“This creates an obvious road map”: Gina Chon, “Preet Bharara Warns of Insider Trading ‘Bonanza,’ ” The Financial Times, October 5, 2015.
In his opinion granting: David Ganek v. David Leibowitz et al., 15-cv-1446, Memorandum and Order, 03/10/16
“People are going to be lining up out the doors”: Aruna Viswanatha and Juliet Chung, “Deal Ends SEC’s Pursuit of Steven Cohen,” The Wall Street Journal, January 8, 2016.
The general counsel for Point72: Simone Foxman and Tom Schoenberg, “Steve Cohen’s General Counsel is Part of Trump Transition Team,” Bloomberg News, November 14, 2016. See also Neil Vigdor, “Connecticut’s Former Top Prosecutor Off Trump Transition Team,” Connecticut Post, November 16, 2016.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SHEELAH KOLHATKAR is a staff writer at The New Yorker. Previously, she was a features editor and national correspondent at Bloomberg Businessweek, and her work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review
, New York, Time, and other publications. She appears as a speaker and commentator on business, economics, Wall Street, regulation, financial crime, politics, Silicon Valley, income inequality, women’s issues, and other topics at conferences and on broadcast outlets including Bloomberg Television, CNBC, PBS, CBS, and NPR. Before becoming a journalist, she spent several years as a risk arbitrage analyst at two hedge funds in New York City, where she lives.
sheelahkolhatkar.com
@sheelahk
To inquire about booking Sheelah Kolhatkar for a speaking engagement, please contact the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau at speakers@penguinrandomhouse.com.
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