Michael Steinberg, the SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager named as an unindicted co-conspirator in a $62 million insider-trading scheme, once harbored Hollywood dreams.
But before the 40-year-old hedgie ever got to Tinseltown, the dream died in a nasty dispute with a college pal — who accused Steinberg in 2006 of violating financial rules and regulations, The Post has learned.
The accusations, vague and unsubstantiated, came as the friendship seemed to burn out.
In 2005, Steinberg paid former college roommate Adam Resnick $1,000 for his life story. Resnick had a gambling addiction that helped bring down a Chicago bank in 2002.
Steinberg aimed to produce a major motion picture, documentary or television mini series based on Resnick’s topsy-turvy life, according to a draft “settlement agreement” obtained by The Post.
Resnick spent 19 months in prison on fraud charges related to the bank failure.
Steinberg sought to sell back to Resnick his life story in 2006 for $101,500 after an apparent falling out between the producer and muse.
As part of a 2006 draft settlement agreement, Steinberg asked Resnick to recant statements he had made “concerning Steinberg’s ethics and alleged illegal conduct.”
Among the accusations he wanted Resnick to take back was that Steinberg “violated, either personally or professionally, any SEC, NASD or IRS regulations,” the document shows. Steinberg also asked Resnick to recant statements regarding his taxes, according to the unsigned agreement.
Resnick, reached by The Post, said he entered talks but never signed the agreement. He declined to comment on the nature of the accusations against Steinberg.
Steinberg’s lawyer on the settlement talks, Steven Riker, declined to comment. Steinberg’s current lawyer, Barry Berke, didn’t return a request for comment.
Fast-forward to today, and Steinberg’s own life has become the stuff of a Hollywood screenplay.
In September, Steinberg was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Anthony Chiasson and Todd Newman trial now unspooling in federal court.
That month, Steinberg’s former analyst at a unit of SAC, Jon Horvath, pleaded guilty to giving non-public stock tips on Dell and Nvidia to his boss to trade on between 2007 and 2009. That boss has been fingered as Steinberg.
Steinberg, on leave from SAC, hasn’t been charged with any wrongdoing.
Resnick, 32 years old when he was indicted for the bank fraud, has been back in the headlines again recently — this time for legit acts.
The 40-year-old blew the whistle on a nursing-home kickback scheme that forced Omnicare to fork over $98 million.
Resnick gave $2 million of the reward he received for his Omnicare action to Uncle Sam as restitution.