Hedge Fund Billionaire, 5 Others Arrested For Insider Trading

Photograph of Raj Rajaratnam being led by the feds by Louis Lanzano/AP

A hedge fund founder and five other people were arrested in what the federal authorities say is the "biggest insider trading scheme ever involving a hedge fund" (NY Times) and the "biggest insider-trading ring in a generation" (Wall Street Journal). Those involved allegedly made $20 million on inside information about stocks like Hilton, IBM, Google and Advanced Micro Devices.

Apparently Raj Rajaratnam, a self-made billionaire (#236 on the Forbes list of Richest Americans) who founded the now $3.7 billion-Galleon Group hedge fund, was the center of the ring. The NY Times is actually pretty excited about it: "Even now, after the discovery of Bernard L. Madoff, the scheme outlined by law enforcement officials is the stuff of Wall Street thrillers, not seen since the days of Ivan Boesky two decades ago." Okay, the Wall Street Journal also reports, "The case against him reads like a thriller."

Photos of Mark Kurland and Danielle Chiesi by Louis Lanzano/AP

The feds used wiretaps, usually used in mob or drug investigations, with help from a Galleon employee turned cooperating witness, in their probe—and they say they'll use it more with financial investigations. One Bear Stearns-turn-New Castle employee arrested in the ring was Danielle Chiesi, who was taped saying, "I'm dead if this leaks. I really am... and my career is over. I'll be like Martha f---ing Stewart" and "If it leaks, I think I'm out of business ... Because ... who knows IBM? And who, who's in bed with AMD? Put Danielle's name on the f---in' ticket."

The other alleged insider traders are "Mark Kurland, a top executive at New Castle Funds; Rajiv Goel, a director at Intel's investment arm; Anil Kumar, an executive with the consulting firm McKinsey& Co., and Robert Moffat, a senior vice president at IBM"—Moffat was considered a possible IBM CEO candidate. Chiesi and Rajaratham apparently discussed whether Moffat was more valuable for information at IBM or if he should go to another company with stock they could trade.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in News on October 17, 2009 11:51 AM

Comments [rss]

NannyState

I think Raj there went a little too long on samosas.

bobchadwick

Having just returned from a trip to India, I think I can safely say that a lot of Indians have been going a little too long on samosas. If it weren't for the abject poverty that a huge percentage of their population lives in, I think they'd be giving us a run for the money in terms of obesity.

marthastuart

Yes please stop invoking my name. Everyone knows Im busy saving crippled chidren and imprisoned minks in India.

keen observer

Linking Martha Stewart to the Rajaratnam criminal indictment on insider trading was a scurrilous political attack on Martha Stewart by Obama and his federal goons that he recruited from the Bush Administration, which targeted her destruction on bogus charges for political gain. This proves Obama’s promise of “no more Bush” on the campaign trail was completely bogus; the reality is Obama is four more years of Bush.

Obama’s deplorable, baseless attack on Martha Stewart in linking her to this criminal insider trading case only shows that his campaign talk about “change” was a complete fraud and just as empty and meaningless as the Nobel Peace Prize he was given.

Martha Stewart was involved in no insider trading; she was never charged with criminal insider trading; she made a perfectly legal small-time, personal stock sale and was railroaded in a bogus conviction on bogus charges that had nothing to do with insider trading. Martha Stewart was of no relevance for her name to be invoked in this criminal complaint; there was no justification for her name to be invoked in the criminal complaint except for sensational media publicity and political gain. President Barack Bush and the Bush federal goons he recruited are no different from the rogue Bush administration.

Gothamist and mainstream media have certainly functioned as state propagandists for Obama and his Bush goons in their media assault on Martha Stewart.

angry_pickle

Take your meds first.

some guy

Go to bed, Martha.

Spirit of 76

If Rajaratnam is guilty, he was incredibly stupid. You're a billionaire and you risk arrest for a scheme that got only $20 million? And he didn't even get all of the money.

jaycjay

"biggest insider-trading ring in a generation"

Correction: biggest that got caught.

jaycjay

"Raj Rajaratnam, a self-made billionaire"

Really? Do you still get that title if you got there through fraud?

wow 14th street

I thought dat insider trading is what pal's do

while golfing at the CC.?

More to come and let's hope they don't go to Danbury

prison,which i hear "is kind of cushy".

EastRiver

I think Danbury Federal Prison is for women only now.

John_Matrix

hey it's agent baker i was wondering what happened to that dude

EastRiver

Danielle Chiesi looks like Brigitte Nielsen.

TimSPC

What's with that blazer and vest? He's like the Tamil Joker.

dadoc

Every time one of these occurs, Louie from Casablanca pops into my mind: "I am shocked, shocked...".

No surprise. The whole system is based on this stuff, Enron, Madoff. As part of their plea, look at who they flip. Likely more to come. Numbers, info and manipulation. And not a concrete product to be seen.

Steven

It's just another ordinary day on Wall Street.

JacqueMehoff

it's diwali weekend again?

sometimes I think the entire industry is built on insider trading. look at all the companies involved.

Rocknrope

And they busted him on Diwali weekend. Cruel, cruel feds!

marcasm

Looks like he will be eating his mithai behind bars.

MyWittyName

He is also suspected of funneling $$ to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) through a bogus charity called the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). In fact, he was the single largest US donor to the TRO.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/raj-rajaratnam-indicted-20-million-insider-trading-case/story?id=8845975

freddynyc

Raj is probably the only hedge fund manager who buys his suits off the rack at the local Big and Tall. BTW that look on his face is priceless - or does be always look like that...