Steven A. Cohen is known for his rapid-fire trading style, moving in and out of stocks with dizzying speed at his hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors.
He seems to be taking a similar approach to his real estate.
Mr. Cohen reached a deal last week to pay $60 million for an oceanfront property on Further Lane in East Hampton, on Long Island, according to a person with direct knowledge of the sale. The home, which was only listed for sale late last week, is down the road from one that he already owns. At the same time, he has put on the market his duplex apartment in the Bloomberg Tower on the east side of Manhattan. this person said. His asking price: $115 million.
News of Mr. Cohen’s real estate activity surfaced a day after reports that he purchased Picasso’s “Le Rêve†for $155 million from the casino owner Stephen A. Wynn. The acquisition is one of the priciest private art deals ever completed. Meanwhile, he has quietly offered up other works from his vast collection up for sale, according to several dealers.
Mr. Cohen’s conspicuous consumption comes amid continuing scrutiny of his business practices. SAC is at the center of the government’s broad investigation into insider trading at hedge funds. Earlier this month, Mr. Cohen, 56, signed off on two settlements in which the fund agreed to pay federal securities regulators a $616 million penalty to resolve accusations of illegal conduct at SAC.
On Thursday morning, Judge Victor Marerro of Federal District Court in Manhattan is set to hold a hearing to consider the terms of the agreement, which requires his approval. SAC has resolved the cases without admitting nor denying wrongdoing, a settlement technique used by the government that has come under criticism from some judges for being too lenient.
Mr. Cohen, 56, is not expected to attend the settlement hearing, but if Judge Marrero signs off on the agreement, the $616 million will effectively come out of Mr. Cohen’s pocket. The fine is being paid by the SAC management company, of which Mr. Cohen owns 100 percent. SAC investors will not absorb any of the cost of the government penalty.
The $616 million would put only a modest dent in Mr. Cohen’s net worth, which is said to be nearly $10 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. He is one of a handful of hedge fund managers who have redefined wealth on Wall Street. Investors like John Paulson of Paulson & Company, which made a fortune betting against the mortgage market, and Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor currently bidding for Dell, have recently earned billions of dollars in a single calendar year.
Many of them have homes in the Hamptons, a favorite summer getaway of the Wall Street crowd. Mr. Cohen first put down roots there in 2007, when he bought a home on Further Lane for about $18 million, one of the Hamptons most desirable addresses for its sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean.
Yet Mr. Cohen’s current home is not on the water, but situated behind an oceanfront property owned by James Chanos, another hedge fund manager. (Other neighbors on his street have included the comedian Jerry Seinfeld and the art dealer Larry Gagosian.)
Now Mr. Cohen can claim an ocean view. A couple of doors down from his other house, his new 10,000-square foot home sits on seven acres with a tennis court and pool. “High ceilings, antique oak and limestone floors, barn-style double-height family room, media room, large oceanview master suite plus six additional bedrooms,†said the listing.
The $60 million purchase is among the most expensive real estate sales ever transacted on Long Island’s South Fork. It is unclear whether Mr. Cohen is selling his first Further Lane house.
Ed Petrie, a real estate broker at Sotheby’s International Realty who had the exclusive listing, declined to comment. Jonathan Gasthalter, an SAC spokesman, also declined to comment.
At the same time Mr. Cohen has added property in the Hamptons, he has decided to unload one in New York, listing his duplex at in the Bloomberg Tower on Lexington Avenue for $115 million. A charter resident of the building, which also goes by the name One Beacon Court, he paid about $24 million in 2005 for the 10,000-square foot property on the 51st and 52nd floors. His neighbors there have included the Beyonce, the pop singer, and Marc Dreier, the disgraced former corporate lawyer serving a 20-year sentence for fraud.
Mr. Cohen, whose primary dwelling is a home in Greenwich, Conn., featuring an ice-skating rink and a two-hole golf course, still owns real estate in New York. Last year, he purchased a property in the West Village on Washington Street for $38.8 million.
If Mr. Cohen got the $115 million that he is asking for his Bloomberg Tower pad, it would be the priciest sale to date of a Manhattan apartment. Two duplexes at One57, a 1,004-foot tower now under construction in Midtown, are under contract with unnamed buyers for $90 million. If consummated, those deals will surpass the $88 million sale of a penthouse at 15 Central Park West owned by the financier Sanford I. Weill to the daughter of a Russian billionaire.
