Trial of SAC's Martoma begins with questions for potential jurors By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jury selection began on Tuesday in the trial of Mathew Martoma, a former portfolio manager at Steven A. Cohen's SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund, who is accused of engaging in the most lucrative insider trading scheme in U.S. history. Court officials handed questionnaires to 80 potential jurors to determine their suitability to sit for more than three weeks in the high-profile trial in a federal court in New York. Potential jurors were, asked among other things, about the extent to which they had read about Martoma's case or heard of Cohen and SAC. Prospective jurors are expected to be asked by the judge Wednesday a variety of other questions, including if they had "strong feelings" against traders, stockbrokers and hedge funds. U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe instructed the potential jurors to steer clear of media reports about the case and SAC Capital while they are under consideration. "In our country, we do not try people based on what is said in the press," he said. Martoma, in a dark suit and blue tie, sat at a table with his lawyers. He is accused of arranging trades in Elan Corp Plc and Wyeth based on confidential information supplied by two doctors involved in a clinical trial for an Alzheimer's drug. Wyeth is now a unit of Pfizer Inc. Thanks to the trades, SAC Capital made profits and avoided losses of $276 million, according to an indictment against Martoma, which prosecutors have said is the most money ever made in a U.S. case brought over insider trading. Martoma, 39, has pleaded not guilty to the three conspiracy and securities fraud charges in the indictment. He is one of eight current or former SAC employees to face criminal charges amid a crackdown by U.S. authorities against insider trading. The trial comes a month after a jury in the same courthouse convicted Michael Steinberg, another SAC portfolio manager, on insider trading charges. SAC Capital, once a $14 billion hedge fund, agreed in November to pay $1.2 billion and plead guilty to fraud charges stemming from insider trading by its employees. Cohen, 57, faces an administrative action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission seeking to bar him from the financial industry for failing to supervise Martoma and Steinberg. Cohen has not been criminally charged and denies wrongdoing. Under the jury selection method being used by Gardephe, jurors were allowed to leave the court for the day after filling out the questionnaire. The parties were to discuss the responses at a hearing later Tuesday, and the judge instructed jurors to return to the court Wednesday for further proceedings to select 12 jurors and four alternates. The use of a written questionnaire at the start of jury selection, while less familiar than direct questioning, is not unusual. Gardephe followed a similar procedure in selecting a jury to hear the case of Gilberto Valle, a New York City police officer dubbed the "cannibal cop" by tabloid media, who was convicted in March of plotting to kidnap, cook and eat women. The question about jurors' feelings about traders and hedge funds, discussed at a hearing Monday, was added as a topic for Gardephe to ask about at the urging of lawyers for Martoma, who were concerned about some might be biased against Wall Street. "Hedge funds have been vilified in the press the last four or five years after the financial crisis," Richard Strassberg of the law firm Goodwin Procter said at a hearing Monday. Refiled to correct that potential jurors will be asked about their feelings on traders and hedge funds on Wednesday, not Tuesday