Martoma claimed Cohen’s testimony shows that SAC sold its Wyeth stock on the advice of Wayne Holman, a former SAC employee who left and started Ridgeback Capital Management LLC, not because of anything Martoma said.
Incrimination Risk
In pages taken from a 253-page transcript of Cohen’s May 3, 2012, deposition, Cohen testified he remembered only that, in the pivotal 2008 call from Martoma, the fund manager told Cohen he was “getting uncomfortable” with the firm’s Elan investment.
The defense also claims Cohen’s testimony shows Martoma wasn’t involved in decisions to sell Wyeth and Elan shares short, or to liquidate the positions through so-called dark pools and other measures prosecutors said were intended to disguise trading by the Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund.
Because Cohen “intends to assert his constitutional rights” not to risk incriminating himself by testifying at Martoma’s trial, the defense should be permitted to use the SEC testimony in its defense, Martoma’s lawyers have argued.
Martoma asked Gardephe to order the U.S. to turn over communications between the government and the two cooperating doctors. Martoma claims that Gilman and Ross both initially told investigators they weren’t involved in passing inside information to him.
Martoma is also seeking to bar jurors from hearing that he fainted when confronted by two FBI agents outside his Boca Raton, Florida, home on Nov. 8, 2011. The government claims the reaction shows he was aware of his guilt. Martoma’s lawyers counter that the evidence would unfairly prejudice jurors against their client and that FBI questioning would naturally make someone anxious.
Gardephe hasn’t yet ruled on the requests.
The case is U.S. v. Steinberg, 12-cr-00121, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).