To Catch a Trader

The rise and semi-fall of hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen amid charges of insider trading is the focus of Nick Verbitsky's PBS-aired Frontline documentary. As head of SAC Capital Advisors, Cohen enjoyed substantial gains over his competition, and he happily displayed his wealth with some rather gaudy real estate, as well as a museum-worthy art collection, and a Christmas card depicting himself as a king. Of course, Cohen's uncommon good fortune raised red flags, resulting in a federal probe that led to a flurry of convictions. While Cohen, not surprisingly, declined to participate in this production, a deposition video from 2011 finds him doing a none-too-credible impersonation of a dum-dum who cannot understand the chaos swirling about him. The subject matter here could be compelling, but Verbitsky fails to turn this white-collar-crime tale into a cogent story with vibrant images (instead we get tired visuals like an oscilloscope screen vibrating to the soundtrack of taped telephone calls). Onscreen host Martin Smith is a little too serious, delivering stern gazes and melodramatic questions to visibly uncomfortable FBI agents, while Charles Gasparino of Fox Business News and insider-trader-turned-memoirist Turney Duff provide smug, smarty-pants commentary. In the end, Cohen was forced to shut down SAC Capital, but never faced a criminal indictment, making the entire proceeding feel like an exercise in futility. An optional purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)