Star hedge fund manager Steve Cohen might have had brushes with the law, but his firm, Point72 Asset Management, has generated a gross profit of approximately $1.8 billion so far this year, a knowledgeable source tells The New York Times.

The firm has approximately $10 billion of assets, mostly Cohen's own money. That would indicate a return of up to 18 percent, well above the 2.58 percent gain registered by the Absolute U.S. Equity hedge fund Index, net of fees, for the first nine months of the year.

Cohen's firm, formerly SAC Capital Advisors, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges last year and was hit with $1.8 billion in fines and penalties.

Cohen agreed to stop managing outsiders' money as part of a deal with federal prosecutors, and the firm's name was changed earlier this year. The Securities and Exchange Commission is still investigating Cohen himself.

Analysts were curious to see whether the new firm — a family office — could match the old firm's 25 percent average annual returns.

Despite Point72's success this year, it suffered losses during this month's 10 percent correction in stocks, as did many hedge funds.

"Every hedge fund is trying to out-hedge the other, and as soon as they see a downward pullback in a sector like small- to mid-caps or energy, they're all getting out," Dan Neiman, a fund manager at Neiman Funds Management, told Bloomberg.

"They want to get out quick to avoid a down year, and that's not healthy for the environment, they create a lot of downward pressure on the market."

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