When prosecutors open their trial this week against Mathew Martoma, a former SAC Capital portfolio manager accused of insider trading, the elephant in the court will be Steven Cohen.
Mr Cohen, founder of SAC, has not been accused of insider trading, but he stands between Mr Martoma and the hedge fund’s sale of $700m of two drug-company stocks following a 20-minute phone conversation the two men had in July 2008.
The sale and subsequent bets that shares of Elan and Wyeth would drop allegedly resulted in the largest single insider trading offence in US history, making SAC $276m in profits and avoided losses. It is the 11th such trial under Preet Bharara, the US attorney for Manhattan, since 2009. His prosecutors have not lost an insider trading case, earning 77 convictions.