Leon Cooperman is more likely than ever now to see the inside of a courtroom over alleged insider trading. This is because of Tuesday’s Supreme Court decision in an unrelated case.
The Omega Advisors CEO was charged by the SEC in September with insider trading which led to $4 million in profit over Atlas Pipeline Partners LP. The 73 year old allegedly took advantage of information which he received from a business executive. But the Justice Department has been waiting to move forward with any prosecution of Mr. Cooperman until the Supreme Court ruled in the Salman vs United States Case.
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The Court, in a unanimous decision, held that prosecutors do not need to show that anyone involved in the case had been paid or received any form of remuneration for having provided anther with inside information. In Salman, a family connection provided the information which led to the plaintiff’s gains in the stock market, so no one individual could claim that they or their organization was defrauded in any way.
This basically means that if you hear anything from a friend or relative about his own company and use that information to buy and sell stocks, even if you make little or no profit, you can definitely be prosecuted for insider trading.
So how does this relate to Leon Cooperman? His case is similar because, while he traded on nonpublic information, he did not make trades involving his own company’s stock. But he did take advantage of information which he learned in confidence from an insider.
Leon Cooperman continues to deny the charges.
