Business

SAC money manager admits insider trading

For the first time, former SAC Capital money manager Noah Freeman yesterday admitted to insider trading while at the hedge fund giant run by the embattled Wall Street titan Steve Cohen.

Freeman, 35, told a federal court jury that “more than a dozen” times from June 2008 to January 2010 he used illegal insider information to profit on trades while managing a $300 million fund at SAC.

Back in February, Freeman pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to two counts of securities fraud but never specified exactly where he was working at the time.

The former hedge fund manager, who is cooperating with prosecutors, also confessed to engaging in insider trading at another hedge fund shop, Sonar Capital Management, prior to joining SAC.

Freeman’s confession came during the trial of former Primary Global Research consultant Winifred Jiau, who is charged with passing on insider information about technology companies to hedge fund managers for lucrative pay outs.

Jiau is the first of the so-called expert networkers to go on trial as part of a sweeping crackdown on insider trading by hard-hitting Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Another former SAC trader Donald Longueuil, also pleaded guilty earlier this year. He, too, never specified at which firm he allegedly committed his acts of securities fraud.

During testimony yesterday, Freeman said that he reaped as much as $30 million in illicit gains through trades on insider tips about tech firms including Marvell Technology Group and Nvidia Corp.

Cohen has not been charged with any wrongdoing. A spokesman for SAC has said that both Longueuil and Freeman were fired for poor performance.