Hedge clippers

The markets aren’t the only ones who are skittish over the legal woes of SAC Capital Advisors.

Democrats and Republicans across the country have a lot riding on Steven Cohen, the billionaire founder of the Stamford hedge fund that was indicted this week for insider trading and has pleaded not guilty.

A new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, have given more than $601,000 to campaign committees and PACs since 2004.

Three of the five members of Connecticut’s all-Democratic House delegation have received donations in the past from SAC employees, according to the Washington, D.C., organization, which tracks the role of money in campaigns.

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4th District, who represents Stamford and Greenwich, home to hedge fund row, accepted $7,850, but nothing since 2012, Federal Election Commission records show. Himes was out of the country on official business Friday and was not immediately available for comment.

John Larson and Elizabeth Esty, of the 1st and 5th districts, received $9,600 and $1,000, respectively. Messages seeking comment were left with their aides Friday.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., accepted $2,500. Murphy spokesman Ben Marter said there are no plans to return the money, which did not come from Cohen or the firm itself.

State GOP Chairman Jerry Labriola Jr. pounced on the Democratic lawmakers.

“Our Democratic ruling class is not only bought and paid for by the government union bosses, but also questionable Wall Street special interests,” Labriola told Hearst Connecticut Newspapers Friday.

The analysis duly notes that the top recipient of money from SAC Capital employees is Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican House Majority Leader from Virginia, who took $74,564 between his leadership PAC and individual candidate committee.

In 2010, Cohen and his wife, who live in Greenwich, gave $1.5 million to the Republican Governors Association.

Hearst Connecticut Newspapers conducted its own examination of the couple’s largess for a June profile on Cohen, who has denied any wrongdoing.

In 2007, Cohen steered $28,500 each to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.

A year before Congress took up financial regulation reforms, Cohen gave $2,300 to then-U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and the namesake of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Cohen also gave $4,600 to U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, in 2008, when he was ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee.

In 2006, Cohen hosted a fundraiser for then-Stamford Mayor Dannel P. Malloy, who is now governor. Filings with the state Elections Enforcement Commission show that Cohen’s wife gave $375 to Malloy’s gubernatorial exploratory committee in 2010.

“They are friends of the governor,” Andrew Doba, a spokesman for Malloy, told Hearst last month. “The governor has made keeping the good paying jobs in finance part of his economic development agenda, and, obviously, SAC is a part of that community.”

 

 

 

Neil Vigdor