Steven A. Cohen (born June 11, 1956) is an American hedge-fund manager and owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) since September 14, 2020, owning just over 97% of the team.

Cohen was prohibited from managing outside money for two years as part of the settlement reached in the civil case over his accountability for the scandal.

[1] Cohen loosely inspired the character Bobby Axelrod, played by Damian Lewis, on the Showtime series Billions.

[5] Cohen grew up in Great Neck, New York, where his father was a dress manufacturer in Manhattan's garment district and his mother was a piano teacher.

He took a liking to poker as a high school student, often betting his own money in tournaments, and he credits the game with teaching him "how to take risks.

While in school, Cohen was initiated as a brother of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity's Theta chapter, where he served as treasurer.

[10] Throughout the late 1980s, the Securities and Exchange Commission became suspicious that Cohen had used inside information in December 1985 when he bet that RCA and GE would merge, ahead of the announcement.

SAC affiliates reached two civil insider trading settlements totaling nearly $616 million with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

[20] On November 20, 2012, Cohen was implicated in an alleged insider trading scandal involving an ex-SAC manager, Mathew Martoma.

Capital Advisors "pleaded guilty to insider trading charges in 2013 and paid $1.8 billion in penalties" and was required to stop handling investments for outsiders.

[27][28] Cohen denied that his involvement with the short squeeze would affect his willingness to spend money on the New York Mets.

[30] Cohen is portrayed by Vincent D'Onofrio in the 2023 film Dumb Money, a biographical drama covering the short squeeze.

[37] Cohen became a minority owner of the New York Mets of Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2012, with an 8% stake in the club.

[38][39] In August 2020, Cohen had entered negotiations with Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to buy a controlling interest in the team before reaching an agreement the following month.

[45] In 2014, the Cohen Foundation provided funding, via the New York University Langone Center, for the study of post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury.

The museum announced in 2017 that MoMA's largest contiguous gallery will be called the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Center for Special Exhibitions.

[49] In 2015, Steven Cohen and his wife, Alexandra, donated $2.25 million to a Super PAC called America Leads that supported Chris Christie's presidential candidacy.

[54] Cohen's tastes and collection began with Impressionist painters, acquiring works by Manet and Monet, after which he moved quickly into contemporary art.

[2] In May 2019, Cohen bought Jeff Koons's Rabbit for $91.1 million;[59] the purchase was made through Robert Mnuchin and was the most expensive work sold by a living artist at auction at the time.

[64] In 2008, he was inducted into the Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, George Soros, Jack Nash, James Simons, Julian Robertson, Kenneth Griffin, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones and Seth Klarman.