Jiau's Insider Tips Batted 1,000

Winifred Jiau

Noah Freeman, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital Advisors, said yesterday that he received a string of "perfect" tips from expert-network consultant Winifred Jiau, even though receiving those tips was in violation of SAC policy.

His testimony stated that Jiau passed him correct information regarding the earnings at Nvidia Corp. and Marvell Technology Group during the years 2006 – 2008. Freeman in turn passed the tips along to Neil Druker (head of Sonar Capital Management), Donald Longueuil (SAC trader), and Samir Barai (founder of Barai Capital Management). Both Longueuil and Barai have already pleaded guilty, whereas Druker has yet to be accused of any crime.

Said Freeman of Jiau:

"She provided us with almost complete financial results before they were announced. It gave us the ability to know what the company was going to say before they said it. That gave us a huge leg up."

In his own defense, Druker, through his lawyer, called Freeman dishonest and was seeking to falsely implicate others at Sonar.

Jiau received $1,000 a month for her insider tips, which later rose to $5,000 per month. Payments were made via artificially high trading commissions to hide the truth. SAC, while a central figure in the case, has never been accused of wrongdoing.

Jiau has been implicated by other individuals in the expert network, nine of whom have pleaded guilty. According to Freeman, Jiau was a "very, very difficult" person to deal with, constantly rescheduling meetings or phone calling at strange hours. She once requested that Freeman ship her a dozen lobsters for Thanksgiving, then failed to pick up the shipment. From Freeman's secretary:

"Winnie never picked up her lobsters. Typical Winnie to leave 12 lobsters to die at Fed Ex. She has no heart."

If convicted, Jiau will continue to abstain from lobster for up to 25 years in the Big House.

Eric Bank, Freelance Writer

© 2011 Hedge Fund Writer LLC

Coward Puts On a Brave Face

Loyal readers will recall a recent article we did about Martin Coward and his wife Elena Ambrosiadou, who heads IKOS Asset Management and who was accused of spying upon her former portfolio manager Tobin Grover. Grover had been hired by Coward, and the move by Ambrosiadou was seen as a strike against her now estranged husband.

Now, Coward, who was under a gag order from a Cyprus judge, has spoken out, denying as "absurd" allegations made by Ambrosiadou that he, Coward, had no stake in IKOS.  In a letter, Coward acknowledged that his claim that he "continues to have a stake in IKOS" is under litigation, but maintains:

"the suggestion now being made… that I played little or no part in the creation of IKOS… is plainly absurd."

Coward created the trading algorithms used by IKOS, and claimed he "devoted his life" to IKOS until he resigned in late 2009. For its part, IKOS has accused Coward of stealing proprietary information and conspiring to "to take control of the company and misappropriate its technology." This claim, in the form of a press release, came after a judgment against the company forced it to pay substantial penalties for spying on the former employee, Grover. 

Coward alleges that Ambrosiadou used a company to install spy equipment at their jointly-owned home in the UK. He claims a tracking device was found in his car bumper in March.

In a letter, IKOS told investors that Coward "has no stake in the company and has no entitlement to the company's profits", and that the personal dispute between Coward and Ambrosiadou had been settled. Coward roared his disagreement with those statements, saying IKOS rejected arbitration attempts.

Eric Bank, Freelance Writer

© 2011 Hedge Fund Writer LLC