The finance world has many ultra wealthy “players” who obtained their billions through illegal acts for which they have so far not been held accountable. Once they have billions they are then courted and promoted by the media and social elites as admirable, genius, business leaders. They also can hire the most aggressive legal teams to protect them from meaningful penalties or personal liability. They also buy favor from politicians and regulators.
In a long list of allegations stemming over many years, last week Hedge fund titan Steven Cohen’s firm SAC finally agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud and pay a total fine of $1.8 billion. Which sounds big, but since Cohen is now a multibillionaire, 1.8 is small penalty to pay for massive personal enrichment which so far remains in tact.
Frontline published this never before seen video of Cohen during a two day 2011 deposition as part of a civil lawsuit by Canadian insurer Fairfax Financial Holdings, which claimed that SAC Capital had conspired with other hedge funds to spread false information in an attempt to drive down Fairfax’s stock price.
In these clips the financial “genius” Cohen asks for an explanation of the basic Securities and Exchange Commission rule that prohibits insider trading. See Rule 10b5-1.
At one point, he insists that he takes the issue of insider trading “very seriously,” but then admits that he doesn’t remember if he’s read Rule 10b5-1. Here is a direct video link.
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