NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. court officials said Mathew Martoma may deserve a record prison term for insider trading, a request that lawyers for the former SAC Capital Advisors LP fund manager called "outrageous."
Martoma is scheduled to be sentenced next month following his Feb. 6 conviction for seeking confidential tips about a clinical trial for an Alzheimer's drug, enabling billionaire Steven A. Cohen's hedge fund firm to make about $275 million.
In a court filing late Tuesday, Martoma's lawyers said a prison term of 15 years and 8 months to 19 years and 7 months, which the probation department deemed appropriate under federal guidelines, was "irrational" and "outrageous."
The lawyers cited other similar cases in which defendants received as few as two years in prison.
A spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan did not immediately respond on Wednesday to a request for comment. Judges may impose stiffer or lesser punishments than federal guidelines recommend.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
