Thaindian News

New York, April 7 (IANS) Hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam gained $63.8 million through trading with tips from among others two Indian Americans, an FBI agent testified as prosecutors rested their case in the biggest insider trading trial in US.

Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent, James Barnacle Jr., told a Manhattan court Wednesday that Galleon-group co-founder Rajaratnam, 53, made, or avoided losses of, $63.8 million, much more than the $45 million alleged in the indictment.

Following the testimony of Barnacle, the last prosecution witness, US District Judge Richard Holwell dismissed the jury until April 11. Barring a dismissal by the judge, the defence will present its case next.

In cross-examining prosecution witnesses, Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam’s lawyers attempted to show that their client traded on a “mosaic” of publicly available information, not insider tips.

Rajaratnam faces five counts of conspiracy and nine counts of securities fraud, each of which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Since March 8 when the trial began, prosecutors have presented witnesses and wiretapped recordings showing that Rajaratnam had at least 10 sources of inside information throughout Wall Street and the US business community.

Witnesses testified that Rajaratnam got leaks originating with a Goldman Sachs Group board member, a consultant at McKinsey & Co., executives of other public companies and several traders.

Indian American Anil Kumar, a former director at McKinsey, who has pleaded guilty said he leaked client information to Rajaratnam beginning in 2004, including updates on chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)’s acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc. in 2006.

Another Indian American, Rajiv Goel, a former Intel executive who has also pleaded guilty, told how he passed tips to Rajaratnam, his “pal” from business school.

In one secret recordings of Rajaratnam’s phone calls made before his October 2009 arrest, Rajaratnam is heard asking Kumar, “Should I buy a million?” after Kumar told him about a transaction involving AMD, a McKinsey client.

“You cannot go wrong,” Kumar replied, according to the recording.

Jurors also heard a recording of Rajaratnam telling a colleague that he has a source “on the board of Goldman Sachs,” and another of Rajat Gupta, then a Goldman Sachs director, telling Rajaratnam about internal discussions at the bank.
Gupta, who is not charged in the Galleon case has denied any wrong doing.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)