Indian-American convicted of insider-trading appeals sentence again

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Mathew Martoma, the former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors LP, who was convicted more than two years ago and is serving time in prison, appealed his conviction again in the appeals court in New York May 9.

Martoma’s 2014 conviction resulted from charges he used insider tips to make trades that fetched SAC some $275 million or so. He was sentenced to a 9-year prison term. The trades related to an alzheimer’s disease drug in clinical development.

His lawyer Paul Clement, argued prosecutors had not proved beyond a doubt that the man, Dr. Sid Gilman, who allegedly gave Martoma the tip, did it for a payback. He also argued that his client should be freed on the basis of a precedent where the U.S. Supreme Court overturned another insider-trading case in 2016, Bloomberg News reported.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Allen reiterated the government’s stand that Gilman, the main witness against Martoma, had been paid for his services on a consultancy basis.

Seven SAC Capital employees were convicted of insider trading, including Martoma, but the convictions of two of them were later overturned, Bloomberg news reported.