By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A federal identify on Tuesday rejected Pfizer (NYSE:)’s uncover to recoup about $75.2 million left over from a U.S. Securities and Change Rate insider buying and selling settlement with billionaire Steven A. Cohen’s mature hedge fund SAC Capital Management.

U.S. District Ponder Victor Marrero in Fresh york stated Wyeth, a drugmaker Pfizer bought in 2009, did now no longer qualify as a sufferer of the securities violations underlying the SEC case, and subsequently used to be now no longer entitled to the funds.

Marrero directed that the cash be paid to the U.S. Treasury, which the SEC had requested.

Pfizer and its attorneys did now no longer straight away answer to requests for comment.

The dispute stemmed from a $602 million civil settlement tied to buying and selling in Wyeth and drugmaker Elan by Mathew Martoma, who worked at an SAC unit and used to be later convicted, primarily primarily primarily based on a neurologist’s systems on a 2008 Alzheimer’s drug trial.

SAC pleaded guilty to fraud in 2013 and paid $1.8 billion in settlements with the SEC and other authorities.

The SEC had $75.2 million left over after compensating Wyeth and Elan merchants for his or her losses. Pfizer stated it deserved that money for the reason that neurologist, Sidney Gilman, breached a fiduciary obligation to Wyeth, where he used to be a manual.

Nevertheless the identify stated the reputational harm that Wyeth suffered from the scandal did now no longer mean it furthermore suffered monetary harm.

“The court docket in fact agrees that corporations whose secrets and ways are misappropriated for insider buying and selling functions are on the entire victims of wrongdoing,” he wrote. “Nevertheless Pfizer has failed to recount how the insider buying and selling scheme and Wyeth’s subsequent reputational harm qualifies as pecuniary harm for functions of distributing the disgorged funds.”

Marrero added that a $7 billion decline in Wyeth’s market fee following the drug trial had nothing to withhold out with the insider buying and selling scheme, which grew to was public three years later.

Cohen used to be now no longer criminally charged, however licensed a two-twelve months ban on managing out of doorways money to total an SEC probe into his supervision of Martoma.

He changed SAC Capital’s title to Point72 Asset Management in 2014, and stopped buying and selling for that fund in September. Cohen is fee $21.3 billion in step with Forbes journal.

The case is SEC v CR Intrinsic Investors LLC et al, U.S. District Court docket, Southern District of Fresh York, No. 12-08466.