SAC Capital, the embattled hedge fund indicted on insider trading charges, has reached a tentative deal to settle the case and pay more than $1 billion in fines.
The fund, run by the billionaire investor Steven A. Cohen, struck the deal with prosecutors in Manhattan in recent days, according to two people briefed on the matter.
Although the exact amount of the fine is unclear, prosecutors have been seeking a $1.8 billion penalty and a guilty plea from SAC, the people said. SAC’s lawyers were urging the government to deduct from that amount the $616 million the fund has already paid to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The people briefed on the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that the deal was tentative. The talks are continuing and could still fall apart.
A spokesman for SAC declined to comment.
The New York Times reported last week that SAC’s lawyers were leaning toward accepting the government’s $1.8 billion offer. The Wall Street Journal reported online Thursday that SAC agreed in principle to the deal.
The pact is emerging just months after federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the F.B.I. announced the indictment of SAC, a rare criminal action against a large company. Since then, investors continued to flee SAC, but the fund stayed afloat as banks and other trading partners continued to do business with it.
