SAC Capital Advisors was founded in 1992 by Steven A. Cohen with an initial capital of US$25 million. The firm quickly established itself as one of the most successful hedge funds on Wall Street and became known for delivering average annual returns of around 30%.
By its peak, SAC managed approximately US$15 billion in assets, employing aggressive trading strategies that attracted significant investor capital and made it a powerhouse in the industry. Its growth was fueled by Cohen’s reputation as a top trader, drawing in high-profile clients and expanding operations over two decades.
In July 2013, following an 11-year investigation by federal authorities, SAC Capital was indicted on charges of securities fraud and wire fraud related to a widespread insider trading scheme. The allegations involved multiple employees engaging in illegal trading that generated hundreds of millions in illicit profits and avoided losses. As alleged in the indictment, from 1999 through at least 2010, numerous employees of SAC obtained and traded on material, non-public information they were not permitted to have (“inside information”), or recommended trades based on such information to SAC’s portfolio managers and owners. Specifically, the indictment charged SAC with insider trading offenses committed by numerous employees, occurring over the span of more than a decade, and involving the securities of more than 20 publicly traded companies across multiple sectors of the economy. As charged in the indictment, the systematic insider trading engaged in by SAC was the predictable and foreseeable result of multiple institutional failures. The failures alleged included hiring practices heavily focused on recruiting employees with networks of public company insiders, the failure of SAC management to question employees about trades that appeared to be based on inside information, and ineffective compliance measures that failed to prevent or detect such trading, particularly prior to late 2009.
On November 4, 2013, the firm pleaded guilty to these charges in a landmark settlement. As part of the deal, SAC agreed to pay a record US$1.8 billion in penalties, including a US$900 million criminal fine and US$900 million in civil settlements—the largest insider trading penalty in U.S. history at the time. Steven Cohen himself wasn’t criminally charged, though he faced civil allegations of failing to supervise employees. Cohen denied wrongdoing on his part.
Following the guilty plea, SAC Capital was required to cease managing external investor funds and to terminate operations as an investment advisor, effectively shutting down its operations as a public hedge fund. The firm began returning outside capital to investors and transitioned into a family office managing Cohen’s personal wealth. In 2014, it rebranded as Point72 Asset Management, transferring the bulk of SAC’s assets and continuing as a successor entity under a U.S Securities and Exchange Commission agreement that initially barred it from handling outside money.
Cohen was personally barred from managing external investor money for two years, a restriction that lifted in 2018, allowing Stamford, Connecticut–based Point72 to reopen to investors. This marked the end of SAC Capital as it was known, though its legacy continues through the restructured and renamed firm.
Investors put more than US$4 billion into Point72 when it reopened in 2018, and it quickly grew to over US$17 billion in assets by 2020. Billions more have poured in, on top of double-digit, performance-driven growth every year, and today it manages over US$45 billion in assets. This puts it among the world’s largest multi-strategy hedge funds, in the same league as Balyasny Asset Management’s US$32 billion, Citadel’s US$66 billion, and Millennium Management’s US$86 billion, but well below Bridgewater Associates at over US$100 billion. However, Bloomberg reported that the Point72 founder took the No. 1 spot in its annual listing of the best-paid managers in 2025:
For the first time, Cohen tops Bloomberg’s annual list of the world’s best-paid hedge fund managers. Cohen’s take from his hedge fund, Point72 Asset Management, totaled a cool $3.4 billion in 2025, according to Bloomberg calculations.
Sources:
Maloney, Tom, & Parmar, Hema (2026), “Steve Cohen’s $3.4 Billion Payday Tops Hedge Fund Ranks,” Bloomberg, February 19: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-02-19/mets-owner-steve-cohen-leads-hedge-funds-with-3-4-billion-haul?srnd=homepage-europe&sref=59s1YomL
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York (2013), “SAC Capital Management Companies Plead Guilty to Insider Trading Charges in Manhattan Federal Court,” Press Release, November 8: https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/sac-capital-management-companies-plead-guilty-insider-trading-charges-manhattan-federal