Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of New York City hedge fund Galleon Group, was found guilty Wednesday of insider trading in one of the most high-profile insider cases in history.
It was a huge win for the U.S. government; Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14 counts he faced - nine for securities fraud and five for conspiracy.
Smith, one of the strongest cooperating witnesses for the government, was the first Galleon employee to testify against his boss. He said Rajaratnam received a tip about the 2006 acquisition by Advanced Micro Devices Inc of ATI Technologies Inc. He also said the hedge-fund head and others at Galleon sought tips from a former Intel Corp. employee, a Morgan Stanley investment banker and others. Smith has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
The prosecution also called executives of companies whose stocks were mentioned in the wiretaps, most notably Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Blankfein told the court on March 23 that Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman board member, violated the firm's confidentiality policies by disclosing information to Rajaratnam about the bank's first-ever quarterly loss in 2008 as well as a $5 billion investment in the bank by Warren Buffett.
It was a huge win for the U.S. government; Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14 counts he faced - nine for securities fraud and five for conspiracy.
Smith, one of the strongest cooperating witnesses for the government, was the first Galleon employee to testify against his boss. He said Rajaratnam received a tip about the 2006 acquisition by Advanced Micro Devices Inc of ATI Technologies Inc. He also said the hedge-fund head and others at Galleon sought tips from a former Intel Corp. employee, a Morgan Stanley investment banker and others. Smith has pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
The prosecution also called executives of companies whose stocks were mentioned in the wiretaps, most notably Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Blankfein told the court on March 23 that Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman board member, violated the firm's confidentiality policies by disclosing information to Rajaratnam about the bank's first-ever quarterly loss in 2008 as well as a $5 billion investment in the bank by Warren Buffett.