Horvath, who worked at SAC’s Sigma unit from 2006 to 2011, is cooperating with the insider-trading investigation by Bharara’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York. Steve Peikin, Horvath’s lawyer, declined to comment.
During Plea
Horvath told the judge during his plea that he “agreed to obtain and share information about public companies.”
“In each instance I provided the information to the portfolio manager I worked for and we executed trades in the stocks based on that information,” Horvath told Sullivan.
During Chiasson and Newman’s trial, assistant U.S. attorneys Antonia Apps, Richard Tarlowe and John Zach provided evidence including SAC e-mails that they said showed the fund manager’s state of mind about the information he received from Horvath.
Two days before Dell was set to report second-quarter 2008 earnings, Horvath e-mailed Steinberg and another portfolio manager to warn that the computer maker would miss earnings estimates.
Second Hand
“I have a 2nd hand read from someone at the company,” Horvath said in the Aug. 26 e-mail, which provided details on gross margins, expenditures and revenue. “Please keep to yourself as obviously not well known.”
Steinberg replied, “Yes normally we would never divulge data like this, so please be discreet. Thanks.”
Judge Sullivan concluded in December that e-mail and instant messages he reviewed showed that Steinberg could have known information he used for trades came from insiders.