[ by Melanie Gretchen and Howard Haykin ]

SAC Capital Advisors could probably cover every wall in its offices with all the subpoenaes it's received pertaining  to the current, long-running insider trading investigation that by now is in its 4^th or 5^th year.  Last week 5 subpoenas were issued to 5 executives of SAC Capital Advisors, in addition to founder Steven A. Cohen, requesting each to testify.  The chosen few include:

• Anthony Vaccarino, portfolio manager (fifth to receive the subpoena);
• Thomas Conheeney, president;
• Solomon Kumin, COO;
• Steven Kessler, CCO;
• Phillip Villhauer, head of trading.

Among other things, the government seeks information pertaining to 2 sets of trades.  Some are general info about SAC, while others relate to trades made in drug stocks Elan and Wyeth in the summer of 2008 - which are at the heart of the insider-trading charges filed against former portfolio manager Mathew Martoma - who pleaded "NOT GUILTY."

Icing on the (Prosecutorial) Cake. Things have not gone well for SAC of late.  The investigation into its trading practices now is into its 6th year.  So far, prosecutors have secured 4 guilty pleas from former SAC traders and an agreement by SAC to pay a $616 million penalty to resolve 2 civil insider trading actions.  The SAC settlement is subject to court approval.  To the executives' credit, the grand jury subpoenas Mr. Cohen and the other 5 executives received are usually served to individuals from whom prosecutors are seeking information, rather than individuals whom prosecutors are seeking to charge.

Nevertheless, prosecutors have good reason to be motivated: due to the 5-year deadline to file securities fraud charges for the trades made in 2008, they have about 6 weeks – until mid-July – to bring a case against the firm related to those trades.  In the meantime, SAC is bracing itself for withdrawal requests from investors before a 6/3 deadline.  Will its announcement that it was no longer fully cooperating with the investigation help or hinder it?  Will the next few weeks be damage control or prevention?

For further details, go to [Businessweek, 5/24/13] and [Dealbook, 5/23/12].