Louis Lanzano/Bloomberg NewsDonald Longueuil
A former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Friday after he pleaded guilty in April to insider trading.
The manager, Donald Longueuil, 35, was swept up in the federal government’s latest front in its crackdown on insider trading on Wall Street, which has focused on so-called expert networks. Expert networks are essentially matchmakers, connecting hedge fund managers with industry executives who offer insights about their businesses.
The government’s crackdown has focused on people involved with expert networks who leaked important corporate secrets like crucial products developments or corporate earnings. Mr. Longueuil is one of roughly a dozen implicated in the case.
In his guilty plea to securities fraud, Mr. Longueuil admitted to accepting inside information from 2006 until 2010 related to about a half-dozen companies. Working for SAC Capital, the giant hedge fund run by the billionaire Steven A. Cohen, Mr. Longueuil obtained secrets from employees as well as consultants that the expert networks hooked him up with.
SAC Capital has not been accused of wrongdoing. The firm has said Mr. Longueuil was fired for poor performance and circumvented its compliance rules by violating the law.
In his plea, Mr. Longueuil admitted to sharing tips with a colleague, Noah Freeman, and another confidant, Samir Barai, founder of Barai Capital Management. Mr. Freeman and Mr. Barai were both implicated in the insider trading ring and both have pleaded guilty. In one 2008 trade, Mr. Longueuil admitted to receiving inside information about Marvell Technologies, a tip that earned his firm $1 million.
Article source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=2192167bce335a9903a648d8d4628031