SEC accuses hedge fund manager Cooperman of insider trading

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators have accused high-profile hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman and his firm of illegally trading on confidential information he learned from a company executive.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the civil insider-trading charges Wednesday against Cooperman and his firm, Omega Advisors. Cooperman is well known in Wall Street circles and appears frequently on the CNBC business cable network.

The 73-year-old Cooperman worked at Goldman Sachs for more than a quarter of a century and ran its asset management unit before leaving in 1991 to start his own hedge fund.The famed investor’s firm had $5.4 billion in assets under management as of the end of August.

In late 2011, He penned an “open letter” to President Barack Obama, arguing that “the divisive, polarizing tone of your rhetoric is cleaving a widening gulf, at this point as much visceral as philosophical, between the downtrodden and those best positioned to help them.”

The SEC said Cooperman profited illegally by buying securities in Atlas Pipeline Partners in advance of the sale of its natural gas processing facility in Oklahoma, using his status as one of the company’s biggest shareholders to get the information from the executive. After the announcement of the sale, Atlas Pipeline shares soared more than 31 percent. 

Attorneys representing Cooperman and Omega didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.