Separate from these charges, 6 traders at SAC Capital have already pled guilty to individual insider trading-type charges, so the company is kinda effed.

Let's hope demand that this be only the beginning of more criminal accountability from the finance sector.

Update 1:

SAC Capital seems nice. From their Wikipedia page:



The company is incorporated offshore in Anguilla, British West Indies,[5] and its trading offices are located in Stamford, Connecticut and New York City. SAC also maintains satellite offices in San Francisco, Hong Kong, Boston, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Frankfurt, Rio de Janeiro, London, among others.[2] The firm employs approximately 1,000 people, of which about 300 are investment personnel and 40 are staffed in legal and compliance.[1] SAC's management fee include 3% of AUM and 50% of the annual returns—the highest in the industry.[citation needed] Forbes listed SAC founder Steven Cohen's estimated net worth to be $8.0 billion as of 2008.[6]

Update 2:

Evidence behind these charges includes wiretaps. From Bloomberg:



Insider trading evidence against SAC Capital Advisors LP includes court-authorized wiretaps, a U.S. prosecutor said at the $14 billion hedge fund’s arraignment in federal court in Manhattan. “The discovery will be voluminous, including a large number of electronic recordings, including electronic messages, instant messages, court-authorized wiretaps and consensual recordings,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Antonia Apps told U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain today about the pretrial evidence-gathering process. “In short, a tremendous volume.”

Update 3:

Could SAC Capital bring down others when they fall? MorganStanley and J.P. Morgan are continuing to do business with the indicted firm! Also from Bloomberg:

