Steve Cohen shuts down Twitter account after stock scandal backlash
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen had been very active on social media since he purchased the team last year, but he is taking a break from Twitter after finding his name at the center of some Wall Street drama.
Cohen said in a statement on Saturday night that he has deactivated his Twitter account after his family received “personal threats.” He said the threats were unrelated to the Mets, and it is obvious he was talking about the GameStop craze.
“I’ve really enjoyed the back and forth with Mets fans on Twitter which was unfortunately overtaken this week by misinformation unrelated to the Mets that led to our family getting personal threats,” Cohen said, via ESPN. “So I’m going to take a break for now. We have other ways to listen to your suggestions and remain committed to doing that. I love our team, this community, and our fans, who are the best in baseball. Bottom line is that this week’s events in no way affect our resources and drive to put a championship team on the field.”
Cohen went on the defensive earlier in the week after his investment group, Point72 Asset Management, pumped a huge sum of money into a hedge called Melvin Capital Management. The fund, which is run by Cohen’s former associate Gabe Plotkin, lost billions after a group of retail investors banded together on Reddit and other social media forums to buy stock in GameStop.
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy called Cohen out on Twitter, and Cohen fired back in a series of tweets. The tweets have disappeared now that Cohen’s account is inactive, but you can read some of them here.
Cohen has a history of shady dealings on Wall Street. He used to run a hedge fund called SAC Capital. The fund was shut down following allegations of insider trading. Cohen was never charged, but the firm pleaded guilty to trafficking in nonpublic information and was forced to return investor capital and pay $1.8 billion in fines. Cohen was banned from managing other people’s money for two years beginning in 2016.
