The former SAC portfolio manager, found guilty in September of orchestrating "the most lucrative insider trading scheme ever," is hoping the Big Guy can save him.

Mathew Martoma’s best hope of staying out of prison may be persuading a federal appeals court that he should have been permitted to introduce the deposition testimony of his former boss, Steven A. Cohen, at his insider trading trial earlier this year. A three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York seized on that line of argument at a hearing on Wednesday morning to determine whether Mr. Martoma should be allowed to remain out of prison on bail pending an appeal of his conviction in one of the largest insider trading cases ever. Mr. Martoma, 40, was sentenced in September to nine years in prison, after his conviction on charges that he helped Mr. Cohen’s former hedge fund, SAC Capital Advisors, avoid losses and generate profits totaling $275 million in the summer of 2008. Mr. Martoma, a married father of three young children, had been scheduled to report to prison on Monday, but an appellate court granted his request to hold a hearing to determine whether he should remain free on bail.

Appeals Court Weighs Steven Cohen Deposition in Martoma Case [Dealbook]