SAC Capital has reached a mammoth $1.8 billion plea deal with the feds, marking a key step in putting to bed a long-running probe into what they have called the famously embattled hedge fund's history of rampant insider trading. Under the plea deal, SAC will pay the penalties — which the federal prosecutor called "steep but fair" — as well as plead guilty to securities fraud and other charges and agree no longer to operate as an investment advisor. The total sum of the penalties marks "the largest financial penalty in history for insider trading offenses," according to the prosecutor, amid tough new enforcement actions against massive Wall Street investment firms for alleged insider trading. The firm's head, billionaire Steven A. Cohen, wasn't charged when his firm was indicted, but he still faces a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Bloomberg News reported.
