NEW YORK, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- A physician from New Jersey, Joel Ross, fed information to a former SAC Capital Advisors money manager accused of insider trading, The New York Times reports.
A source, described by the newspaper as having direct knowledge of the case, identified the doctor, who prosecutors call a "co-conspirator" in court filings.
Ross runs the Memory Enhancement Center in Eatontown, N.J. On the center's website, his biography says he has been an investigator in close touch with all Alzheimer's disease drug trials conducted since 1994.
Prosecutors say SAC Capital Advisors money managers frequently used experts, some set up by companies that help investors find consultants to advise them on investment strategies.
Prospectors have also said the hedge fund's founder, Steven Cohen, encouraged the former money manager, Mathew Martoma, to consult with the doctors, including University of Michigan neurologist Sidney Gilman, who has been previously identified and who has avoided prosecution by agreeing to testify against Martoma, the Times said.
Cohen has not been charged with insider trading, although five of SAC Capital's employees have pleaded guilty to charges related to insider trading and five others have been implicated.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, however, has filed a case against Cohen, accusing him of neglecting to supervise his employees correctly.
By using the insider information given to them by doctors to judge investments in two drug companies, Wyeth and Elan, the hedge fund realized a gain of $276 million either from profits or from using the information to avoid losses, prosecutors said.
