The upside of being a billionaire when you're accused of insider trading? You can post the $100 million bail! Hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, who was arrested on Friday after feds said he and five others shared inside information and tips to make $20 million, posted the bail on Saturday. The NY Times says that he's expected to be at his hedge fund's offices today to address his employees.
Rajaratnam, whose net worth is around $1.5 billion, is fighting the charges, which include securities fraud, conspiracy and insider trading. The Wall Street Journal reports that he told a friend on Saturday, "I get thousands of calls a week with people pitching ideas," and that "Rajaratnam seemed in good spirits."
Of course, other aspect of Rajaratnam's life are now reopened to speculation: He surfaced in a federal probe of fundraising by the Sri Lankan terrorist group the Tamil Tigers: "Federal agents said they uncovered documents showing Mr. Rajaratnam...was among several wealthy Sri Lankans in the U.S. whose donations to a Maryland-based charity made their way to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam... The LTTE, known as the Tamil Tigers, fought against the government of Sri Lanka in a brutal separatist war from 1976 until the LTTE was defeated in May."
