The 25 Highest-Earning Hedge Fund Managers And Traders Comment Now Follow Comments A little more than one year ago, Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to insider-trading related charges stemming from a sweeping federal investigation into the hedge fund firm. Cohen’s SAC Capital, one of the most successful hedge fund firms ever, agreed to pay $1.8 billion to the federal government and stop managing money for outside investors. Instead, Cohen, who was never criminally charged, converted SAC Capital into a family office that manages his personal fortune and rebranded it Point72 Asset Management. Cohen tops Forbes’ list of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders, making an estimated $1.3 billion in 2014. In the end, not a lot has changed for Cohen. Prior to pleading guilty, much of the money managed by SAC Capital already belonged to Cohen. Point72 Asset Management, which has some 800 employees, still functions like a major hedge fund and manages more than $10 billion. Cohen has continued to successfully trade in a way that is consistent with his excellent performance track record, but his earnings in 2014 especially stand out because so many hedge fund managers struggled mightily in 2014. The average hedge fund returned 3.3%, according to HFR, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index returned 13.7%. Forbes estimates that the top six earning hedge fund managers each made slightly more than $1 billion last year and they are bunched together at the top of the list. But Forbes believes that Cohen edged out the other five top earners. Top Earning Hedge Fund Managers 2015 1 of 25 Simon Dawson/Bloomberg 1. Steve Cohen 2014 Earnings: $1.3 billion. One of the most successful hedge fund managers ever, Steve Cohen may have shut down his SAC Capital hedge fund firm after it pleaded guilty to insider-trading charges, but he continues to successfully trade his own money. Cohen returned his outside investors' money and now manages his own fortune in a family office called Point72 Asset Management. The son of a dress manufacturer who worked in Manhattan's garment district, Cohen did take a hit from the sprawling government insider-trading investigation that targeted his firm, which paid $1.8 billion to the federal government to cover SAC's penalties. He was never criminally charged, but several former SAC employees were convicted. An avid poker player, Cohen started trading with $7,000 that was supposed to be part of his tuition payment at the Wharton School, ultimately developing his own rapid-fire style of trading that won him praise at Gruntal, his first forage into Wall Street. By 1992, he founded SAC with $20 million of his own money. The hedge fund did so well that it was able to charged some of the industry's richest fees. Cohen is looking to clean up his image, rebranding his family office, launching a new, glossy website, and making big name hires to increase surveillance and compliance. Cohen’s leading hedge fund earnings highlight an important emerging development in the rich hedge fund industry as some of the most successful and closely watched hedge fund traders increasingly focus on mostly, or even exclusively, managing their own wealth. Legendary hedge fund manager George Soros is tied for second on the Forbes list of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders, making $1.2 billion in 2014, but he stopped managing external funds in 2011. In fact, even before 2011, the amount of outside money overseen by Soros was relatively tiny in comparison to his own capital. Soros remains involved in managing Soros Fund Management, but Scott Bessent handles the firm’s day-to-day operations. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL LIST OF THE TOP-EARNING HEDGE FUND MANAGERS AND TRADERS. http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2015/02/25/the-25-highest-earning-hedge-fund-managers-and-traders/
Rough life. Plead guilty then keep doing what you're doing under a different name. Is that the American way?