Former SAC Capital portfolio manager Mathew Martoma has been sentenced to nine years in prison for taking part in what prosecutors said was one of the largest insider-trading schemes ever.
Martoma was convicted in January of insider trading in two drug stocks, Elan and Wyeth. Prosecutors said he earned profits and avoiding losses of US$275 million on the trades, made while working at SAC.
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U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in New York said he had to account for the ‘enormous’ US$275 million gain SAC obtained as a result of illegal trades in pharmaceutical stocks.
While handing down the sentence, Gardephe said "I cannot and will not ignore that the gain is hundreds of millions of dollars more than ever seen in an insider trading prosecution" adding that "there was nothing accidental about Martoma’s conduct or the gain realized."
The sentence came despite appeals for leniency by Richard Strassberg, Martoma’s lawyer, who cited "fragile family circumstances."
The judge also ordered Martoma to forfeit US$9.38 million, equal to the bonus he made on the illegal trades.
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By GlobalDataThe sentence, among the longest handed down for insider trading, was in line with what Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor Preet Bharara had sought ahead of the hearing.
