10 Biggest Insider Trading Scandals Ever to Rock Companies

1. Mathew Martoma

And we top the list of the 10 biggest insider trading scandals ever to rock companies with another pharmaceutical scandal. Mathew Martoma was a portfolio manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors when he obtained non-public information regarding two pharmaceutical companies, Wyeth and Elan Corporation. Based on that information, he advised S.A.C. founder Steven A. Cohen to sell the companies’ shares, making a tidy profit of $276 million, which makes this possibly the largest insider trading scandal in history. For his “outstanding business acumen”, Martoma was awarded $9.38 million by Cohen. After the SEC investigation, he was awarded a nine year prison term and forfeited said bonus. Prosecutors failed to prove that Cohen was aware of how Martoma obtained his information and thus no criminal charges were brought against him, though he was barred from managing outside money. Cohen now manages the family office Point72 Asset Management, and has stated that he would like to manage outside money again once his ban comes to an end in 2018.