A lot of people do not trust Wall Street. They regard it as a moneymaking machine for those who work there, which has little interest in practice in its stated aim of channelling capital into businesses and helping them to grow for the broader benefit of society. For such sceptics, Steven Cohen is Exhibit A.
Cohen’s former hedge fund, SAC Capital, came to dominate share trading on Wall Street before it pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 2013 and paid $1.8bn in penalties. Cohen escaped criminal indictment himself despite being the living, breathing heart of SAC Capital (its name came from his initials) and now runs a private fund with $11bn in assets.
He may be down but he has not disappeared. The signs are that he will re-enter the hedge fund business next year, after settling a civil action. “I feel I’m a very blessed person, a very happy guy, and when I look at my career in totality, I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world,” the billionaire responded flatly in a recent interview when asked about SAC’s downfall.