Cohen and his wife Alexandra have donated more than $450,000 to various politicians. Insider trading case targets big donor

Steven A. Cohen, the multibillionaire hedge fund owner implicated in an insider-trading scandal, is a major political donor who has contributed heavily to big players in both parties.

Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, have donated more than $450,000 to the campaign committees and leadership PACs of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and other key lawmakers during the past several election cycles, Federal Election Commission records show.


Cohen also gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association during the 2009-10 election cycle, according to a January 2011 report from the Center for Public Integrity, a watchdog group.

Cohen is the founder of SAC Capital Advisors and has been estimated by Forbes to be worth as much as $8.8 billion.

Cohen was implicated in a $276 million insider-trading case brought by the the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

In its criminal complaint, the SEC alleged that Mathew Martoma, a former trader with CR Intrinsic Investors — an SAC Capital Advisors affiliate — obtained inside information in 2008 about the progress of clinical trials for an Alzheimer’s drug being developed by two companies.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Martoma “illegally obtained confidential details about the clinical trial from Dr. Sidney Gilman, who served as chairman of the safety monitoring committee overseeing the trial.”

Based on the information received from Gilman — who is cooperating with the SEC in its probe — Martoma then “caused hedge funds managed by CR Intrinsic as well as hedge funds managed by an affiliated investment adviser to trade on the negative inside information he received from Dr. Gilman,” the SEC complaint reads.

SAC Capital and CR Intrinsic Investors firms sold their holdings in the two drug companies — Elan Corp. and Wyeth, the latter now part of Pfizer — and took positions betting their market price would fall.

“This massive repositioning allowed CR Intrinsic and the affiliated advisory firm to reap approximately $82 million in profits and $194 million in avoided losses for a total of more than $276 million in illicit gains,” the SEC alleged.

Martoma received a $9.3 million bonus at the end of 2008, according to the SEC. Martoma, who left CR Intrinsic Investors in 2010, now faces charges of conspiring to commit securities fraud as well as actually committing fraud.

Cohen has not been formally named in any SEC filings, although numerous media reports have identified him as “Portfolio Manager A” mentioned in the SEC case.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Martoma “is the fourth person formerly associated with SAC Capital, which manages $14 billion, to face criminal charges in a broad government crackdown on insider trading in corporate America.”