Monday, May 16, 2011

Raj Rajaratnam: Guilty of Insider Trading?

Hailed as the landmark case in a generation that will clean-up Wall Street, was Galleon Group hedge fund chief Raj Rajaratnam really guilty of insider trading?


By: Ringo Bones


Basing on the court evidence that has been made public so far, the odds are really stacked against Galleon Group hedge fund chief Raj Rajaratnam. From an illustrious line up of witnesses like Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, court-authorized wire-taps to the facts surrounding the controversial incident of calling another hedge fund manager just a few minutes after a supposedly confidential boardroom meeting that even a junior trainee knows better not to. Even though the New York court had sentenced Rajaratnam to a 15-year prison sentence, his legal team plans to appeal the guilty verdict. But could the case really prove to be a landmark as the biggest victory in a generation to clean up Wall Street?

Since the days of the Ronald Reagan, Americans always had a love / hate relationship with the rigmaroley high-brow get-rich-quick mystique surrounding Wall Street-based hedge fund trading; after all, getting obscenely rich after prognosticating which stocks will make it can be a very satisfying and rewarding experience, right? Anyway, the sad fact is that there are more people – i.e. novice traders - that had lost their life-savings in Wall Street based hedge fund trading because their hedge fund managers didn’t fully explain to them the risks involved. While those few who made millions more than once are eternally thankful that the US government haven’t managed to fully over-regulate Wall Street. Will the Raj Rajaratnam insider trading case prove the turning point in cleaning up Wall Street?

1 comment:

Sans Ferdinand said...

Was Galleon Group hedge fund CEO Raj Rajaratnam really guilty of insider trading? I just hope that everybody doesn't forget that information is still the lifeblood of trade, although there is a very fine line between "acting on rumors" and dealing with insider information / insider trading.