Steven Kessler, chief compliance officer for hedge fund firm S.A.C. Capital Advisors, will be stepping down at the end of this month for personal reasons.

Kessler, who has been with S.A.C. for nine years, plans to spend more time with his family and on philanthropy, according to an employee memo obtained by Bloomberg News.

John Casey, chief operating officer of the compliance department, has been appointed interim head of the unit.

Insider Trading

In November 2013, SAC agreed to pay $1.8 billion in total penalties to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice to resolve charges of insider trading. 

On Feb. 6, a federal jury in Manhattan found Matthew Martomo, a former trader at SAC Capital, guilty on two counts of securities fraud, and one count of conspiracy related to the insider trading scheme. Martomo faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for each of the two fraud counts on which he was convicted, and five years for the conspiracy charge. The court has not yet set a date for his sentencing.

Following Martomo's conviction, all eyes now turn to whether Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will pursue SAC's founder, Steve Cohen, for failing to properly supervise trading at his firm.

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