Mathew Martoma

Mathew Martoma (born May 18, 1974 as Ajai Mathew Mariamdani Thomas) is an American former hedge fund trader. As a former portfolio manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors, a Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge fund, he was accused of generating possibly the largest single insider trading transaction profit in history at a value of $276 million. On November 20, 2014, he began serving a nine-year prison sentence.

Martoma was born in Michigan and grew up in Merritt Island, Florida. His mother, Lizzie, is a doctor and his father, Bobby (formerly Cochukattil Thomas), owns a dry cleaning and laundry company. Both are immigrants from India.

He graduated from Merritt Island High School in 1992. He graduated from Duke University and then attended Harvard Law School but was expelled in 1999 for grade manipulation and dishonesty. After leaving Harvard, he legally changed his name from Ajai Mathew Thomas to Mathew Cochukattil Martoma in 2001. He then applied and was accepted to Stanford Business School, where he received an MBA in 2003. After Martoma's trial, where it was revealed that he had been expelled from Harvard but did not disclose that to Stanford, Stanford took back his degree for being admitted under false pretenses.

Martoma worked as a portfolio manager at S.A.C. Capital Advisors. He was hired in 2006 after working for three years at Sirios Capital Management. Martoma owns a $2 million mansion in Boca Raton that includes five-bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms, a pool, an elevator, and a fake lawn.

According to the criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, Martoma allegedly advised Steven A. Cohen to sell shares of pharmaceutical companies Wyeth and Elan Corporation based on tips from two doctors, including Sid Gilman of the University of Michigan, about the Alzheimer's disease drug bapineuzumab during clinical trials overseen by the FDA. Martoma pleaded not guilty to formal charges of securities fraud, two counts, and conspiracy which resulted in $276 million in profits for SAC Capital in 2008. The insider trading trial began on January 9, 2014 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. A jury of seven women and five men were selected to evaluate the evidence in a courtroom presided by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe.

On February 6, 2014, Martoma was found guilty on all charges. On September 8, 2014, Martoma was sentenced to 9 years in prison. In addition Martoma must forfeit his $9.38 million bonus which he earned in 2008.

Martoma is married to Dr. Rosemary A. Martoma (née Kurian), a pediatrician.