Christie crony and top fundraiser, megabillionaire hedge fund manager Steve Cohen's firm, SAC Capital, pleaded guilty to insider trading and has to pay $1.2 billion, the largest fine in history. Aside from the money Cohen personally contributed, how many other employees of SAC donated to Christie campaigns? Assuming Cohen and his partners/associates all personally profited from those insider trades, how much of that money ended up in Christie's campaign account?
Hopefully some enterprising journalists and/or investigative reporters will provide some answers. We all know how, as US Attorney, Christie traded no-bid contracts in exchange for generous campaign donations. No reason to think he wouldn't take money he knew or suspected was derived from profits on insider trades, and there is no reason to think he would return that money unless he was publicly pressured into doing so.
Of course this will all likely come out as Christie prepares to run for President in 2016. I'm sure Rand Paul will do his due diligence when it comes to opposition research, just as Christie's Tea Party opponent Steve Lonegan did when he slammed Christie for those no-bid contracts during that nasty street fight known as the 2009 GOP primary for Governor.
In the meantime it can't hurt for Democrats to demand Christie return the money he got from Cohen and his associates at SAC Capital. Anything that weakens Christie and tarnishes his image will make him more vulnerable and susceptible to accusations of cronyism and favortism, especially with regard to his association with Wall Street crooks and megabillionaires, who are even less popular with the electorate than lawyers and politicians. Also, assuming Christie is the GOP frontrunner who does better in the polls than any of the Tea Party favorites, knocking a few chinks in his armor may help the Democratic opponent who has to face him in 2016.