The SEC announced that, on 30 September, 2011, the Honourable Jed S Rakoff, United States District Judge, United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, entered a Final Judgment on Consent as to Steven Fortuna in the SEC’s insider trading case, SEC v. Galleon Management, LP, et al., 09-CV-8811 (SDNY) (JSR).
On the same day, the Court entered the SEC’s Notice of Dismissal as to S2 Capital Management, LP. The SEC filed its action on October 16, 2009, which alleged that Raj Rajaratnam, Galleon Management, LP, Fortuna, S2 Capital, and others engaged in a widespread insider trading scheme involving hedge funds, industry professionals, and corporate insiders.
At the time of the alleged conduct, Fortuna resided in Westwood, Massachusetts. Fortuna was a co-founder and principal of S2 Capital, which was an unregistered hedge fund investment adviser based in New York, New York. S2 Capital served as the investment adviser to the hedge fund S2 Capital Fund, LP. During the relevant time period, S2 Capital had over USD125 million in assets under management.
The Commission alleged that Fortuna and S2 Capital violated the federal securities laws by trading on the basis of material nonpublic information concerning quarterly earnings of Akamai Technologies, Inc. and concerning Advanced Micro Devices Inc’s pending transactions with two Abu Dhabi sovereign entities. Fortuna and S2 Capital learned the inside information from Danielle Chiesi, a consultant and portfolio manager at New Castle Funds LLC, then a registered investment adviser based in White Plains, New York. Specifically, in July 2008, an Akamai executive tipped Chiesi about Akamai’s disappointing earnings for its 2008 second quarter. Chiesi tipped others, including Fortuna, who traded based on that information on behalf of S2 Capital. Similarly, in October 2008, executives at IBM and AMD provided Chiesi with information concerning AMD’s pending transactions with the Abu Dhabi entities. Chiesi tipped others, including Fortuna, who traded based on that information on behalf of S2 Capital.
The Final Judgment permanently enjoins Fortuna from violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5; and (2) orders him liable for disgorgement of USD193,536, prejudgment interest thereon in the amount of USD11,040, and a civil penalty in the amount of USD96,768. Fortuna separately pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case before the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York, titled United States v. Fortuna, 09 Cr. 01003 (SDNY), and has been cooperating in connection with this action and related investigations. The SEC dismissed its case against S2 Capital, an entity which has ceased operations and is essentially defunct.
