Oct 17 2014 | 7:43am ET Point72 Asset Management is enjoying every bit of the success of its predecessor, SAC Capital Advisors. SAC became Point72 after pleading guilty to insider-trading charges and agreeing to cease managing outside capital. But the blows haven’t slowed the firm, which now primarily manages founder Steven Cohen’s fortune, down. According to The New York Times, the family office has generated gross profits of $1.8 billion this year, including $800 million since the summer. The impressive haul looked even better before this month’s market turmoil, which shaved about $400 million from the total. SAC formally became Point72 in the spring, with $10 billion in assets under management. At its height, SAC had about $14 billion in assets. The firm, which also paid $1.8 billion in fines to settle the insider-trading charges, has radically restructured, parting ways with many long-time executives and adding new layers of management between Cohen and traders, hoping to insulate him from any future rouge traders. It has also hired a Central Intelligence Agency-backed software company to monitor trading. Cohen still faces a Securities and Exchange Commission civil case seeking to bar him from trading.
"Rogue traders", they were about as rogue as the hitmen Don Corleone ordered to murder people in Godfather. It's good to be a billionaire with lots of lawyers, leaves me wondering if he ever played the "Jew card" with his contacts.