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Billionaire Hedge Fund Founder Arrested for Insider Trading
NBC New York ^ | Fri, Oct 16, 2009 | JONATHAN DIENST and ALICE MCQUILLAN

Posted on 10/16/2009 3:38:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Raj Rajaratnam was ranked by Forbes magazine last year among the 400 richest Americans

The billionaire founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund and five others were arrested in a $20 million insider trading scandal, federal authorities said Friday. Raj Rajaratnam, 52, ranked by Forbes magazine last year among the 400 richest Americans, was charged with conspiracy and securities fraud along with current and former executives from Bear Stearns, IBM, Intel Capital and McKinsey & Co., according to federal prosecutors. Rajaratnam, was ranked No. 559 by Forbes magazine this year among the world's wealthiest billionaires, with a $1.3 billion net worth.

"This case represents the largest hedge-fund insider trading case ever prosecuted," said Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a press conference with Joseph Demarest, assistant director in charge of the FBI's New York field division and Robert Khuzami, director of enforcement for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Federal Officials Describe Insider Trading Case Rajaratnam -- born in Sri Lanka and a graduate of University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business -- has been described as a savvy manager of billions of dollars in technology and health-care hedge funds at Galleon, which he started in 1996. The firm is based in New York City with offices in California, China, Taiwan and India.

The suspects are accused of using secret tips or insider information to trade in shares of companies including Akami, Google Inc., AMD., and Polycom Inc., according to court papers.

"In some cases [they traded tips] for money, in some cases for other valuable insider information," said Bharara.

Also charged in the reputed scam are Danielle Chiesi, who had worked for New Castle, an equity hedge fund group of Bear Stearns, IBM senior vice president Robert Moffat, Mark Kurland, another top executive at New Castle, Rajiv Goel, who had worked for Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel, and Anil Kumar, who had worked as a director of McKinsey and Company.

"Goel has been placed on administrative leave as we look into this matter," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "Intel was not aware of this case and was not contacted by investigators. If we are contacted, we will cooperate."

According to the SEC, Goel gave Rajaratnam inside information about Intel's quarterly earnings and a pending deal with Clearwire, the wireless-network operator, in which Intel owns a stake. Goel allegedly made $250,000 from his participation in the scheme.

View the entire list of defendants and charges here. The FBI used wire tapes of cell phones and eventually a confidential informant to uncover alleged examples of insider trading going back to 2006, according to officials.

"The defendants operated in a cozy world of you scratch my back, i'll scratch your back," said Bharara. "Greed in some cases, is not good -- this case should be a wake up call to Wall Street. [The suspects] may have been privy to a lot of confidential information, but there was one secret they did not know -- we were listening."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; US: New York
KEYWORDS: billionaires; crime; hedgefund; insidertrading; rajaratnam; wallstreet
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1 posted on 10/16/2009 3:38:25 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Shame it was not Soros considering the amount of hedging he is currently doing against the dollar.


2 posted on 10/16/2009 3:43:35 PM PDT by cranked
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To: nickcarraway
I saw this story reported by ABC on Google News, with a
picture of Hillary Clinton and dollar bills next to
it. The photo was promptly and mysteriously taken
down......apparently Clinton took boat loads of cash from this crook.
3 posted on 10/16/2009 3:45:06 PM PDT by MamaLucci (Its Mourning In America........)
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To: nickcarraway
He is from Sri Lanka, which is next door to Madagascar...

a well documented pirate stronghold...

and he calls it galleon enterprises?

In hindsight,......

Holy Sh!t, how is he not a frickin' thief?

4 posted on 10/16/2009 3:45:36 PM PDT by Nitro
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To: nickcarraway

RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP/FOUNDER 11/6/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP/FOUNDER 11/6/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 Galleon 8/31/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 Galleon 8/31/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 8/28/08 $-2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)


5 posted on 10/16/2009 3:46:48 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: nickcarraway

What about Cramer for his olfd manipulation - Soros, JC Flowers, Paulson, David Shaw et al.


6 posted on 10/16/2009 3:47:09 PM PDT by Frantzie (Do we want ACORN running America's health care?)
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To: MamaLucci

RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON GRAY/CEO 8/10/06 $26,700 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 Galleon/CEO 8/28/08 $26,200 DNC Services Corp (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 The Galleon Group 10/18/06 $10,000 New Jersey Democratic State Cmte (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON GROUP/INVESTMENTS 11/11/03 $5,000 Volunteer PAC (R)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP/FOUNDER 11/6/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP/FOUNDER 11/6/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 Galleon 8/31/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
Rajaratnam, Raj
New York,NY 10022 Galleon 8/31/08 $2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP 10/18/06 $2,100 Menendez, Robert (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON GRAY/CEO 11/12/05 $2,100 Clinton, Hillary (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON GRAY/CEO 11/12/05 $2,100 Clinton, Hillary (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 THE GALLEON GROUP/INVESTMENT BANKER 2/11/04 $2,000 Khanna, Rohit (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON MANAGEMENT 10/21/04 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEON MANAGEMENT 2/7/01 $1,000 Schumer, Charles E (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ
NEW YORK,NY 10022 8/28/08 $-2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
RAJARATNAM, RAJ MR
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GALLEAN GRAY/CEO 10/31/06 $2,000 Cantwell, Maria (D)


7 posted on 10/16/2009 3:48:10 PM PDT by jimbo123
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To: jimbo123

Stinking criminal hedge fund vermin who own the Senate and all the NE Dems. The American public gets fleeced daily by this vermin.


8 posted on 10/16/2009 3:48:32 PM PDT by Frantzie (Do we want ACORN running America's health care?)
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To: cranked

Amen!


9 posted on 10/16/2009 3:49:26 PM PDT by Anti-Bubba182
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To: jimbo123

I was gonna comment on this. Thanks.


10 posted on 10/16/2009 3:51:55 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar (A mob of one.)
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To: jimbo123

Thanks for posting those contributions.

The Democratic Party is a criminal enterprise.


11 posted on 10/16/2009 3:59:40 PM PDT by Rocky (OBAMA: Succeeding where bin Laden failed.)
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To: jimbo123

Hmmmmm...this cat “manages” health care hedge funds and he gives money to Schumer and Cantwell, both on the Senate Finance committee that just passed a health care reform bill. I wonder how much of the bill was written by Raj....?


12 posted on 10/16/2009 4:00:05 PM PDT by randog (Tap into America!)
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To: nickcarraway

“......According to the Federal Election Commission, he is a generous contributor to Democratic candidates and causes.....”


13 posted on 10/16/2009 4:09:04 PM PDT by BigLittle
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To: cranked

And what about Rham Emmanuel and the others? Nope they go free......


14 posted on 10/16/2009 4:11:44 PM PDT by Freddd (CNN is not credible.)
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To: MamaLucci

BHO and HRC BOTH took cash from him...


15 posted on 10/16/2009 4:13:58 PM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: cranked

Why hasn’t he been arrested, long before now???? He’s doing the same thing here that he did in Gr.Britan a number of years ago.


16 posted on 10/16/2009 4:30:22 PM PDT by alice_in_bubbaland (Markets and Marxists Don't Mix! Audit the FED NOW!)
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To: nickcarraway

Immigrants doing the jobs Americans won’t do.


17 posted on 10/16/2009 4:41:54 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: nickcarraway

My wife is 3 rungs down the ladder from the IBM exec. If he flips it will be devastating at big blue.

He’s the VP who tells all the little people to count paper clips, no more free coffee at work, do more with less, etc.


18 posted on 10/16/2009 4:58:42 PM PDT by TC Rider (The United States Constitution - 1791. All Rights Reserved.)
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To: Nitro

Better take a look at that globe of yours. Sri Lanka is an Indian Ocean apart from Madagascar.


19 posted on 10/16/2009 5:35:21 PM PDT by tenger (If we don't stay on them, they'll get it wrong...Joe Soucheray)
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To: tenger

and pirates never sail?


20 posted on 10/16/2009 8:56:29 PM PDT by Nitro
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