The Securities and Exchange Commission is preparing to file a civil lawsuit against the $14 billion Connecticut hedge fund run by Steven A. Cohen, a legend in the industry whose business has attracted the government’s scrutiny for years.

In a call with investors Wednesday morning, SAC Capital Advisors revealed that it had received a notice from the SEC detailing charges that the government is preparing to file against the firm, according to a person familiar with the call.

It’s unclear when the firm received the notice. But the call came about a week after a former SAC portfolio manager — Mathew Martoma — was charged with running the most lucrative insider-trading scheme ever while working with Cohen. In separate cases, federal prosecutors and the SEC accused Martoma of getting secret tips from a neurologist about the results of a clinical trial involving an Alzheimer’s drug, enabling his hedge fund and others to make more than $276 million in illegal profits or avoided losses.

Cohen was not accused of wrongdoing in either case, nor was he named in the court filings. Instead, the documents refer to the “hedge fund owner” or “Portfolio Manager A.” Cohen is a billionaire with mythical status in the hedge fund world given his firm’s consistently stellar performance.

[…]

In recent years, at least five people have been accused of insider trading while working for SAC, including Martoma, who worked for an SAC affiliate called CR Intrinsic Investors.