Can Michael S. Steinberg get a fair trial?
Lawyers for Mr. Steinberg, a former portfolio manager at the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, raised that question in a court filing on Tuesday. They argued that the news media frenzy surrounding the government’s investigation of SAC and its owner, Steven A. Cohen, could unfairly influence the jury pool.
“The coverage has not only been ubiquitous, but its qualitative content has also been inflammatory, thereby heightening the risk that it could interfere with the ability of potential jurors to assess impartially the government’s case against Mr. Steinberg and Mr. Steinberg’s defense,†the filing said.
Federal authorities arrested Mr. Steinberg at his Park Avenue apartment in March and charged him with illegal trading in the shares of the technology companies Dell and Nvidia. His trial is scheduled for Nov. 18. The trial of another indicted former SAC portfolio manager, Mathew Martoma, is set for Nov. 4.
Mr. Martoma and Mr. Steinberg are two of nine former employees at SAC who have been tied to insider trading while at the fund. Mr. Cohen and his Stamford, Conn.-based fund have become a focus of the government’s multiyear inquiry into insider trading on Wall Street.
“For almost a year, stories about alleged insider trading involving Mr. Steinberg, Mr. Cohen, SAC and the legal troubles of others associated with SAC have saturated media outlets,†wrote Barry H. Berke, Mr. Steinberg’s lawyer at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.
Mr. Steinberg’s lawyers noted that The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Post have together run at least 181 articles since September about Mr. Steinberg and/or SAC Capital, with 15 on the front page. The court filing also tabulated social media references.
“Mr. Steinberg and/or SAC Capital were the subject of 531 Tweets, and 3,454 re-Tweets,†the filing said.
Because of the intense and prominent coverage of Mr. Steinberg, his lawyers asked the presiding judge, Richard J. Sullivan, to use a juror questionnaire focused on awareness of the publicity and whether prospective jurors hold an opinion about the case.
They also asked permission to question individual jurors who have been exposed to news media reports of the case, and seek additional measures to protect Mr. Steinberg from juror bias should there be escalating news coverage leading up to his trial.
A spokeswoman for the United States attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment. Mr. Cohen has not been charged with any wrongdoing and has told his investors that he behaved appropriately at all times.
