U.S. seeks more than eight years prison for SAC's Martoma

Former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager Martoma walks out of the courthouse in downtown Manhattan, New York
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Mathew Martoma, a former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager convicted of insider trading, should be sentenced to a "substantial" term of prison beyond the eight years recommended by probation officers, U.S. prosecutors argued Friday.

In court papers filed in New York federal court, prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe to impose a prison term for Martoma "toward the high end" of sentences imposed in insider trading cases.

"If the malefaction of insider trading is an earnest one, Martoma stands afore the court as one of the very worst offenders," prosecutors indited.

The court's probation department has recommended Martoma be sentenced to eight years in confinement. It had calculated that under the federal sentencing guidelines, Martoma would face between 15 years, 8 months and 19 years, 7 months in confinement.

Martoma's lawyers had called those lengths of time "outrageous" and "irrational." Prosecutors on Friday verbalized they additionally did not oppose a sentence below that range.

But prosecutors under Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara told Gardephe he should impose a "substantial" sentence in light of the earnestness of the conduct and the "unprecedented" ill-gotten gains.

Richard Strassberg, a lawyer for Martoma, declined comment.

Martoma, 40, faces sentencing on July 28 after a jury found him guilty in February on conspiracy and securities fraud charges for trading on confidential tips about a clinical tribulation for an Alzheimer's drug.

Prosecutors verbally expressed the scheme enabled SAC to make $275 million in July 2008 from trades in Elan Corp and Wyeth, a record amount in U.S. insider trading cases.

Elan was acquired last year by Perrigo Company Plc, while Wyeth is now owned by Pfizer Inc.

Martoma is one of eight SAC employees to have been convicted on insider trading charges. SAC, founded by billionaire Steven A. Cohen, pleaded guilty to fraud and acceded to pay $1.8 billion in malefactor and civil settlements.

Cohen, 58, has not been criminally charged. He has renamed his Stamford, Connecticut-predicated firm Point72 Asset Management, and shifted its focus to managing his fortune.

On Friday, SAC Capital reached an acquiescent with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to no longer be an investment adviser, following the firm's guilty plea.

Cohen perpetuates to face a SEC administrative action for failing to supervise SAC employees who engaged in insider trading, including Martoma. He gainsays malfeasance.

The longest U.S. insider trading sentence is a 12-year term given to lawyer Matthew Kluger for a $37 million scheme for which he pleaded guilty in 2011.

The case is U.S. v. Martoma, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 12-cr-00973.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by Bernard Orr)


Related Posts:

  • West warns Russia on new sanctions Western powers admonished Russia on Wednesday that they could impose incipient sanctions if it did not do more to defuse the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where a ceasefire between Russian-verbalizing rebels and regime forces… Read More
  • Police arrest 20 suspected B’ Haram members in Enugu TWENTY suspected members of the belligerent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, were apprehended in Enugu on Wednesday after a commercial bus conveying them was intercepted by security operatives. The bus was reportedly ceased at Obo… Read More
  • Jet: Court bars IG from arresting Diezani, others A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday injuctively authorized the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, to jettison any directive by the National Assembly that the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs. Diezani Al… Read More
  • Kaduna killings: Death toll rises to 66 Chairman of the Sanga Local Regime Area of Kaduna State, Mr. Emmanuel Adamu, verbally expressed on Wednesday that the death toll in the assailments on some villages in the council area had risen to 66. A raid of two village… Read More
  • N’Korea threatens war on US over movie North Korea has promised “merciless” retaliation if a forthcoming Hollywood movie about killing Kim Jong-un is relinquished, BBC reports. A North Korean peregrine ministry spokesman verbally expressed in state media that th… Read More