Looking Back -

2013 witnessed several long-anticipated developments in the world of insider trading, punctuating another year of aggressive enforcement in the United States and abroad. After years of pursuit, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) indicted SAC Capital Advisors LP, ultimately leading to the hedge fund agreeing to plead guilty to insider trading violations and to pay DOJ and the Securities & Exchange Commission (“SEC”) a combined $1.8 billion penalty to settle criminal, civil and forfeiture allegations. If the plea agreement is approved by the court, the penalty will be the largest insider trading penalty ever.

2013 also saw Mark Cuban triumph in his nearly decade-long war with the SEC. In contrast to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s long-running perfect record in insider trading trials, after approximately 10 years of legal wrangling between Cuban and the SEC, it took a jury less than five hours to reach a verdict in Mr. Cuban’s favor. On the other side of the scale, however, the SEC made news by securing against Rajat Gupta a hefty $13.9 million penalty – the statutory maximum of three times the gains made on tips received from him.