America
Mathew Martoma hopes to overturn insider-trading conviction
Washington, May 28
An Indian-American, who is
serving prison term for carrying out insider trading, is hoping to be
freed after an appeals court tossed two other insider-trading
convictions, according to a media report.
Mathew Martoma, a
former portfolio manager for SAC Capital Advisors, said in a court
appeal filed on Tuesday that a recent appeals court decision narrowing
the definition of insider trading “at the very least... demands a new
trial,†the New York Post reported on Wednesday.
Martoma has
spent six months of his nine-year jail term in a federal prison in
Miami. He has also been ordered to pay $9.3 million, the size of his
bonus the year the trades were made, the report said.
Martoma’s
lawyers were confident that the evidence against their client would not
hold up based on an appeals court ruling that raised the bar for
prosecutors and set a new standard for illegal trading.
The Indian-American's lawyers also claimed racial bias because the only Indian in the jury pool was kicked out by prosecutors.