It’s unlikely that the famous golfer knows the former portfolio manager for Diamondback Capital Management, a hedge fund based in Stamford, Conn., that went out of business in 2013. But Mickelson ought to consider reaching out to thank him. It is quite likely that Newman is a key reason Mickelson was not charged on Thursday with insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Newman and another hedge fund manager, Anthony Chiasson, were indicted in 2012 on insider trading charges by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan. (The S.E.C. also brought civil charges.) Newman was accused of regularly receiving information about two stocks, Dell, the computer company, and Nvidia, a chip maker, from company insiders, allowing him to make what amounted to illegal trades.