A former federal prosecutor and hedge fund general counsel is now keeping tabs on trading at Steven A. Cohen’s new family office, Point72 Asset Management.
Mr. Cohen’s firm, in a memorandum to employees on Tuesday, announced that it had hired Vincent Tortorella as the firm’s chief surveillance officer, a new position. Mr. Tortorella most recently was general counsel for Coatue Management, the hedge fund led by Philippe Laffont. Before that he was a prosecutor in the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and general counsel with Guidepoint Global, an expert networking firm that specializes in matching up hedge fund traders and analysts with industry consultants.
The chief surveillance officer post is part of an effort by Mr. Cohen to remake his image and show federal prosecutors that Point72 will not repeat the improper trading on inside information that landed his former SAC Capital Advisors in trouble.
On Thursday, Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is scheduled to decide whether to accept SAC’s guilty plea to insider trading charges and its deal with prosecutors to pay a $1.2 billion penalty.
Mr. Cohen is transitioning SAC into a family office that will manage his personal fortune of $9 billion to $10 billion. He restructured his former firm and renamed its flagship portfolio Point72, a reference to the street in Stamford, Conn., where its headquarters is situated. Point72 made its official debut on Monday with a new sign erected outside the firm’s headquarters at 72 Cummings Point Road.
In the memo, Point72 said, “One of the first things we want Vinny to do is to review our surveillance system and suggest enhancements or other changes to improve the monitoring of contact and information flow with the sell side and independent research firms.â€
Mr. Tortorella’s position will be separate from an outside consultant Mr. Cohen is hiring as part of the settlement with federal prosecutors to monitor the operations of the firm for about a year. Mr. Cohen and federal prosecutors have agreed upon the hiring of Bart M. Schwartz, a former federal prosecutor who has served as an independent monitor in several government investigations, if Judge Swain approves. Mr. Schwartz is chairman and chief executive of Guidepost Solutions, a compliance and security firm based in New York.
A spokesman for Point72 declined to comment on the memo about Mr. Tortorella.
