The future of Mathew Martoma, the former SAC Capital Advisors portfolio manager, is in the hands of a New York jury.
Martoma is accused of engineering the most lucrative inside-trading stock deal ever — ringing up $275 million in profits and averting losses in Elan and Wyeth shares based on illegal tips on an Alzheimer’s drug trial.
The 39-year-old is facing at least 15 years in prison if convicted.
In closing arguments Monday, prosecutors reminded the 12-person jury of the evidence they heard over the four-week trial — including testimony that Martoma got illegal tips from a drug-trial insider a week before the public did and then called his boss, SAC founder Steve Cohen.
With the hot news in hand, Cohen sold out of a $700 million position in Wyeth and Elan shares — and then shorted the two stocks, it is alleged.
Martoma’s defense team, in front of a standing-room-only crowd in the downtown Manhattan federal courthouse courtroom, blasted away at the government’s key witness, Dr. Sidney Gilman.
The 81-year-old neurologist, who confessed to being part of an insider-trading conspiracy with Martoma, spent four days on the witness stand.
During his testimony, Gilman admitted his memory of the crucial day he leaked info to Martoma had “evolved” over time.
“No one should be convicted on the evolving memory of Dr. Gilman,” Martoma lawyer Richard Strassberg pleaded with the jury, asking them to “stand up and do justice. … Everywhere we look, we see reasonable doubt.”
Earlier, prosecutors called Gilman the “canary in the coal mine” for Martoma.
By cultivating the famed Alzheimer’s expert who was on the safety committee for the drug trials , Martoma could build up a big position in those stocks. His inside information meant Martoma could get out before anyone else found out if there was bad news.
While prosecutors made their final arguments, Martoma’s wife, Rosemary, sat in the front row, casting a Mona Lisa smile toward the jury. For about 10 minutes, her body shook uncontrollably as she tapped her feet.