Securities: Insider trader Rajaratnam found guilty
US alternative investment (so-called "hedge") fund manager Raj Rajaratnam has been found guilty of insider trading.
Although Rajaratnam, who is said to have become a millionaire a thousand times over, plans to appeal, the jury's decision left no room for doubt. On 14 counts, he was found guilty on all of them, and all of the decisions were unanimous.
But the defence team is unbowed: there were originally 37 charges but almost two thirds of those were abandoned before trial, they say.
Prosecutors say that Rajaratnam built up a network of contacts within companies who fed him information slightly ahead of the market. Using that information brought gains of an estimated USD64 million (approx), it is said.
The case has spawned some two dozen related cases, several of which have pleaded out. Rajaratnam is the first to go to trial.
He has been released on bail but must wear an electronic tag. And the bail figure of USD100 million is not something most people would want to gamble with.
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