Billionaire hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam has been found guilty by a New York jury of setting-up the largest illegal stock-tipping network in a generation.
The jury, which had deliberated for almost two weeks, delivered its unanimous verdict against the Sri-Lankan born billionaire shortly before 11am local time. Photo: Reuters
by Richard Blackden
(May 11, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) US prosecutors had accused Mr Rajaratnam of orchestrating an insider trading network that stretched from technology companies in Silicon Valley to hedge funds in Manhattan.
The jury, which had deliberated for almost two weeks, delivered its unanimous verdict on all 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy against the Sri-Lankan born billionaire shortly before 11am local time.
Mr Rajaratnam, whose hedge fund Galleon managed about $7bn (£4.2bn) at its peak in 2008, was accused of reaping $63.8m by using inside information to trade in shares in companies including Google and Goldman Sachs. He has always denied the charges.
The conviction is a major victory for Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who marshalled all the resources he could to secure a conviction against Mr Rajaratnam.
Mr Rajaratnam faces up to 20 years in prison on each count of securities fraud and up to five years on each count of conspiracy.
Authorities began investigating Mr Rajaratnam two years before the dotcom bubble burst in 2001 and eventually arrested him at his apartment in east Manhattan in October 2009.
The trial saw some of the government's top prosecutors trade blows with John Dowd, a former military lawyer who represented Mr Rajaratnam, and some of Wall Street's highest-profile figures, including Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, testify.
The jury's verdict carries a significance that goes far beyond the fate of one hedge fund manager. Given investigators unprecedented use of wiretaps, something more commonly associated with trapping drug dealers, experts say that their use in exposing white-collar financial crime will now increase.
In Mr Rajaratnam's case, investigators sought permission from a judge in the spring of 2008 to use them having considered trying to plant someone in Galleon. The wiretaps yielded 3,000 recordings and jurors were played more than 40 over the course of the trial.
-The Telegraph
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