Former SAC Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager Mathew Martoma's Insider Trading Trial Set For November

A federal judge on Wednesday scheduled the insider trading trial of Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager for SAC Capital Advisors, for November 4.

Martoma is facing conspiracy and securities fraud charges for allegedly persuading a medical professor to leak secret data from an Alzheimer's disease trial between 2006 and 2008, according to an Associated Press report.

He is accused of earning $9 million in bonuses by advising CR Intrinsic Investors to sell the shares of Elan Corporation, Plc (NYSE: ELN) and Wyeth, now owned by Pfizer Inc.(NYSE:PFE), by disclosing information about the drug trial's disappointing results in 2008. According to the prosecution, CR Intrinsic Investors averted a loss of more than $250 million, based on the tip-off.

Martoma, 38, of Boca Raton, Fla. denied the charges in January. He was arrested in November and set free on bail.

He is the first of nine employees of SAC Capital to face trial on insider-trading charges. The judge also denied Martoma’s plea for more details about the government's case, saying prosecutors are not obligated to provide such details.

"This is not a case in which the government has provided a 'bare bones' conspiracy charge that leaves defendant incapable of preparing for trial,” U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe wrote, according to a Reuters report.

Martoma’s lawyer, Richard Strassberg, had sought a February date for trial, on the grounds that the government could file an indictment releasing more details relating to its charges against Martoma, Reuters said.

The court rejected the plea, but said that the case can be postponed if Strassberg can later prove he faced "insurmountable difficulties" in appearing for the defense, the report said.

"I'm not closing the door to a later trial date," Gardephe said.

The Stamford, Conn.-based SAC, run by billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen, agreed to pay a record $616 million in March to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle the allegations of improper trading from the investigation into Martoma's actions.

The case is U.S. v. Martoma, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-cr-00973.