United States Lowers the Boom on SAC to the Tune of $1.2 Billion

The United States Lowers the Boom on SAC to the Tune of $1.2 Billion (New York Times)

Having no other recourse, SAC Capital’s guilty plea led the company to receive a record $1.2 billion fine for insider trading. Yet, while the hedge-fund company itself was found guilty, its owner, and the man who supposedly pulled the SAC strings, Steven A. Cohen, remains unindicted.  And that may be the point of SAC agreeing to a record fine, to keep specific individuals out of jail. That move seems to be okay with Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney who prosecuted SAC, “Sometimes you charge individuals, sometimes you seek a large penalty, sometimes you send people to jail, and sometimes you try to make the world understand that an entire institution deserves to be held blameworthy…” But what about sometimes doing right by the investors who lost or stands to lose a whole lot of money in the mess? How does penalizing a company directly help investors?