US court accepts $1.8bn SAC insider trading settlement

Between 1999 and 2010 a number of SAC employees traded on inside information for more than 20 companies, the FBI said

A US court has accepted a $1.8bn (£1.07bn) settlement for insider trading by US hedge fund group SAC Capital Advisors.

As part of a plea deal, SAC Capital and related companies will cease operating as investment advisers, the FBI said.

The firms, plus any successors, must put measures in place to identify insider trading.

The deal includes $1.184bn in financial penalties, on top of $616m that SAC Capital will pay US regulators.

"Today marks the day of reckoning for a fund that was riddled with criminal conduct," Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara said on Thursday.

Between 1999 and 2010, a number of SAC employees traded on inside information for more than 20 companies, the FBI said.

Eight employees have previously either pleaded guilty or been found guilty of insider trading. For example, in December 2013, portfolio manager Michael Steinberg of SAC company Sigma Capital Management was found guilty of insider trading in the securities of technology firms Dell and Nvidia.

SAC Capital Advisors was founded by billionaire Steven A Cohen.