Pfizer has filed an appeal against a federal judge’s decision to deny the company $75.2m from an insider trading settlement involving billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s former hedge fund, SAC Capital Management, dating back over a decade, according to a report by Reuters.
The disputed funds are part of SAC’s $602m settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2013. This settlement stemmed from insider trades on Wyeth and Elan stock by Mathew Martoma, a SAC employee later convicted of insider trading.
Pfizer claims it is entitled to the $75.2m because a neurologist, who leaked information to Martoma about a 2008 Alzheimer’s drug trial, owed a fiduciary duty to Wyeth. Pfizer acquired Wyeth in 2009.
However, US District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan ruled that Wyeth was not a direct victim of Martoma’s trading activities. As a result, Pfizer had no claim to the leftover funds, which had already been used to compensate Wyeth and Elan investors who incurred losses.
Pfizer has since appealed Judge Marrero’s ruling to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan, a process that could take several months or longer.
Cohen, who was not criminally charged in the case, rebranded SAC Capital as Point72 Asset Management in 2014. Forbes estimates his current net worth at $21.3bn.
