Court upholds insider trading conviction of money manager

NEW YORK – A New York federal appeals court has upheld the conviction of an Ivy League-educated ex-portfolio manager convicted of enabling his firm to make over a quarter-billion dollars through insider trading.

The court noted Wednesday that a doctor who gave confidential drug trial information to Boca Raton, Florida, resident Mathew Martoma received substantial financial benefit in return.

Martoma’s lawyers asked the appeals court to reverse his 2014 conviction. Martoma is serving a nine-year prison sentence after his conviction on securities fraud and conspiracy charges in what prosecutors described as the most lucrative insider trading scheme of all time. He’s scheduled to be released from a Miami lockup in 2021.

Martoma formerly worked for billionaire Steven A. Cohen at the Stamford, Connecticut-based SAC Capital Advisors.