Business

SAC pulls plug on Chi. shop

Hedge fund SAC Capital said yesterday it is closing down its Chicago office and laying off staff from the four portfolio teams that work there.

The Stamford, Conn.-based firm has $14 billion in assets with offices worldwide, including in New York, Hong Kong, London and Boston.

The company, which has recently drawn fresh scrutiny in the US government’s ongoing insider-trading probe, employs roughly 1,000 people around the world.

The government told SAC and its founder Steven A. Cohen late last year that it may bring civil fraud charges in relation to a case in which a former SAC fund manager has been charged with having traded in pharmaceutical companies Elan and Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer, with illegally obtained information about drug-trial results.