STAMFORD, Conn. — US securities regulators are examining whether SAC Capital Advisors LP improperly profited from trades made before a health care takeover was announced, the second such deal drawing scrutiny to the hedge fund, people familiar with the matter said Thursday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is trying to determine whether SAC used inside information to profit from Johnson & Johnson’s 2009 takeover of Cougar Biotechnology Inc., these people said. The civil inquiry also encompasses whether an “expert network” business that is part of an investment bank leaked nonpublic information to traders, the people said.
SAC also is facing a criminal probe by federal prosecutors in New York examining trades made in an account overseen by the fund’s billionaire founder, Steven A. Cohen, according to court documents and people familiar with the matter. Representatives for SAC, Cohen, Johnson & Johnson and Cougar declined to comment.
SAC has said it is cooperating with the probe.
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