SAC affiliate in $600 million insider trading settlement with SEC

An affiliate of SAC Capital Advisors LP agreed to pay more than $600 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it participated in an insider trading scheme, the largest settlement of its kind.

The affiliate, CR Intrinsic Investors, had been charged with insider trading in November, when the SEC said one of its portfolio managers, Mathew Martoma, illegally obtained confidential details about a clinical trial for an Alzheimer's drug.

The SEC also said another hedge fund firm with ties to SAC, Sigma Capital Management, agreed to pay nearly $14 million to settle a separate insider trading case.

Neither firm admitted or denied wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlements, which were announced on Friday.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)