Steve Cohen Loses Another Top Trader Before Hedge Fund Launches

• January 11 2018
• Hema Parmar, Katherine Burton

Steve Cohen’s new hedge fund is hitting a little turbulence.

Steve Cohen’s new hedge fund is hitting a little turbulence.

One of Point72 Asset Management’s senior staff -- Jeff Miller, co-head of U.S. trading -- has left the firm, according to people familiar with the matter. Miller had spent more than a decade working for Cohen. He follows global head of trading Phil Villhauer, who, as Bloomberg News reported in October, was leaving after 15 years.

Cohen’s new hedge fund is expected to start next month with about $3 billion in outside money, and will close to new capital in March, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. About 20 institutions will invest in the fund, each writing checks of about $100 million.

Point72 no longer plans to lock up investor capital for as long as three years. Those proposed terms had made some investors wary.

A spokesman for the firm declined to comment. Business Insider reported the news earlier Thursday.

Cohen is in the midst of launching one of the industry’s most highly anticipated hedge funds. At $3 billion, it would be among the biggest new funds in recent years. It’s also a comeback for Cohen, who was banned from managing client money until Jan. 1, after his former hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2013. His firm has ramped up security -- and now boasts a 50-person compliance team that monitors emails for suspicious language and even has hiring veto power.

Read more on Cohen’s Big Brother Oversight here