Real ready for a return, Cohen tells how he's rebuilding for redemption. In 2013, an insider-trading scandal brought down his hugely successful hedge fund.
Graze the memory of 2013, though, and Cohen's merry expression morphs to stone. It's a period he doesn't like to talk about, a year that in recollection remains dark, painful, and full of shame, one that his friends and associates think he would do better to forget. To truly redeem himself, he'll have to demonstrate unwavering adherence to the law-and show that he can still post industry-topping returns while under that microscope. That's the only way people will believe that he earned his billions honestly and trust him with their money again. "I think he wants to correct the record," says a former portfolio manager at SAC.
While many of his associates believe that theory, Cohen rejects it. "I'm not trying to prove anything, okay?" he says, his face grave as a cement slab. "I just don't want to ever go through, nor do I want my employees to go through, what we went through a few years ago." That's all he'll say on the topic-in an interview during which Cohen, though cordial, is flanked by his general counsel and two in-house flacks.
Cohen, whose personal net worth is around $13 billion, demurred. "I've got to think about it," he said. "I don't really need to." Scaramucci wasn't buying it. "My money is on you reopening," he wagered. That, Scaramucci explains later, would be true vindication for a man who has a way of winning when he wants to. "You want to short Steve Cohen?" Scaramucci says. "You're going to get your face ripped off."
The fact that Cohen can even consider returning to the hedge fund business is a startling victory. Eight people were convicted of having committed insider trading while they worked for him at SAC Capital (though two of those convictions were later overturned), and in July 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Cohen with failing to supervise them. Damned by the accusations, Cohen retreated as his clients withdrew their money. Though Cohen was never charged criminally, many assumed that his days as a hedge fund manager were over. He had delivered astonishing annual returns of 29% over nearly 21 years running SAC, managing $16 billion at his peak. The government's investigation tainted those achievements and threatened to ban him from the industry for life.
But in January, the SEC suddenly settled with Cohen, who neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing. The settlement barred him from managing outside investors' money, but only until 2018-and it didn't keep him from playing the market with his own money, or preparing for a day when he might have customers again. As confident as they were that Cohen had to have known that his traders were getting inside information by crooked means, the government could never amass enough evidence to prove it. Out for blood, the SEC settled for a fingernail. "Everybody was fairly shocked," says a former SEC attorney. "It does seem like Steve Cohen beat the SEC."
Today Cohen is reveling in his survival and staging his next chapter. He turned 60 in June, but he's been celebrating his birthday all year, taking friends on multiple weekend golfing trips. He hasn't said yet whether he'll manage outside money again, but almost everyone who has ever worked or invested with him is sure he will. In one clear sign that Cohen feels secure in his salvation, he agreed to an interview with Fortune-only the third time that the publicity-shy trader has spoken with the press about his work, and the first since SAC was charged with insider trading.
Join the Conversation