Hedge-fund billionaire Steve Cohen is on a real-estate buying spree as his SAC Capital insider-trading woes continue.
Cohen, whose firm got a conditional court agreement to pay the Securities and Exchange Commission $602 million this week, snapped up 145 Perry St. in the West Village for $38.8 million, according to public records of the sale.
The apartment building was being developed by David Halpern Architects, but that deal fell through. Records show it was sold to Cohen’s Greenwich Heights Corp. in Stamford, Conn.
There is chatter he bought another city apartment, this one at the Abingdon, also in the West Village, while he renovates 145 Perry. Flank, the company developing the Abingdon, had no comment.
One apartment there recently sold for just over $13.2 million; it’s a 5,900 square-foot “East Mansion” unit in the building, with a private portico entrance on Hudson Street, directly across the street from Abingdon Square Park.
There are nine sales that are currently in contract.
In March, Cohen bought a stunning Hamptons pad for $60 million. He has listed his Bloomberg Tower complex for $115 million.
Last month, Cohen purchased “Le Rêve,” a 1932 oil painting of Picasso’s mistress, for $155 million.
On the Money is curious, from a purely investment perspective, why the hedge-fund titan is moving so much personal cash to hard assets. Could this be a trading opportunity?
On Tuesday a federal judge approved the deal between SAC — with $15 billion in assets — and securities regulators that allows SAC to pay a $602 million settlement to resolve a civil insider-trading case without admitting any guilt. But officials made clear that the settlements do not preclude future charges against individuals, including Cohen himself.–Julie Earle Levine
Listen to moms
Forget mompreneurs. Here come the Mogul Moms.
A high-powered breakfast meeting in New York with Ruth Zuckerman, co-founder of Flywheel; Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, co-founder of Gilt Groupe; Veronica Webb, the model and fashion designer; stylist June Ambrose; and fashion designer Rebecca Minkoff is creating buzz.
The Mogul Moms meet-up will take place at the “21” Club on May 7, and participants will be sharing stories of how they raised a family while building an empire.
The organizer, Lyss Stern, whose Divamoms.com has a half- million followers, and whose projected gross earnings for 2013 are in the vicinity of $5 million, said that she had been inundated with requests from New York women who want to start their own business, or are getting back to work, or are trying to juggle work and family but don’t know how to go about it.
The Mogul Moms will talk about how they do it, what kind of help they have, running your own business and financing.
Tickets to the event are $90 a pop and selling fast. “There’s such a thirst for this information,” says Stern.
A dozen men who work with their wives or want to, or who are in business with women, will attend.
“I’ve screened them. I did have one guy saying, hey, I heard about this hot event with 100 moms,” Stern said.–Julie Earle-Levine
Al that Jazeera
Al Jazeera America, hoping to bring a new perspective to the US cable-news business, has finally begun to hire some staff.
While everyone is awaiting word on whom the net lures to run the service later this year, there was some guffawing over Al Jazeera’s new digital chief, Andrea Stone, and her comments in a press release on her appointment.
Stone said: “I was drawn to Al Jazeera’s commitment to quality and the good old-fashioned journalism that tells both sides of the story.”
Stone, who was most recently Huffington Post’s senior national correspondent, caused quite a stir in February for her decidedly outspoken and politically oriented Facebook posts.
According to Forbes media and tech writer Jeff Bercovici, Stone posted a message about one candidate for a congressional nomination: “So interesting that neo-Nazis chose to run as Republicans. Do they feel more welcome in the GOP? Just asking.”
While Stone’s journalism is not being called into question, even the decidedly left-leaning Huffington Post requested she take the Facebook post down.–Claire Atkinson