SAC Capital Advisors money manager Michael Steinberg better pull down the heat shield.
With reports Monday that the $14 billion hedge fund was likely to settle its insider-trading case as soon as this week — while paying a $1 billion fine and admitting guilt — the pressure on Steinberg to plead guilty ahead of his Nov. 18 trial is likely to build, legal experts said.
Steinberg is charged with conspiracy and securities fraud related to trades in Dell and Nvidia based on insider tips.
“The government, having guilty pleas in their pocket, can use that information to pressure other individuals to also plead guilty,” said famed criminal defense lawyer Barry Slotnick.
The SAC plea would not be allowed as evidence in the other cases, said former federal prosecutor Sean O’Shea. “The admissions of the corporation don’t bind the individual employee,” he said.
But Slotnick said there is a way to get the information into the trial, depending on who the witnesses are.
“Surely you must understand the government is not dumb,” he told The Post.
Steve Cohen’s SAC has been working on a deal with Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and a plea to settle criminal insider-trading charges could come as early as this week, CNBC reported Monday.
Bharara has been pressuring SAC to settle before Steinberg’s trial, saying any settlement would go up afterward.
The government has obtained convictions or guilty pleas from six former SAC executives. Still, a guilty plea by SAC takes away any uncertainty the Steinberg trial would present in its case against the firm, said white- collar defense lawyers.
It’s unclear if the SAC settlement, whose final details are not known, would force it cooperate with Bharara against Steinberg.
White-collar defense lawyers don’t expect Cohen himself to take the stand. If he did, they said, he would likely refuse to testify, invoking the fifth amendment against self incrimination.
“I hope the witch hunt is over,” said Anthony Scaramucci, founder and co-managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, a hedge fund of funds. Scaramucci is an investor in SAC Capital and friend of Cohen’s.
An SAC spokesman declined to comment.