Galleon Employee Asked To Model Spandex On Conference Room Table

Posted by Bess Levin, Oct 26, 2009, 5:19pm

lululemon-pants.jpgSadly, it wasn’t Raj, that we know of, though perhaps he took a test drive later on. I’ll have you know that at Stamford’s premiere hedge fund, the founder takes a more hands on approach to this sort of thing, modeling the goods offered by American Apparel, of which he’s an activist investor, himself, rather than passing the work off onto an underling.* I don’t know how we missed the most amazing aspect of this weekend’s Rajaratnam profile but here you go.

Employees at Galleon recall some unusual scenes. Last summer, Mr. Rajaratnam asked a junior female analyst to buy a black spandex outfit from retailer Lululemon Athletica Inc. as part of a research project into the company, a hotly traded stock.

He then asked the analyst to wear the outfit at the firm’s morning meeting, said people who were there. As employees giggled, Mr. Rajaratnam made the point that few consumers would pay so much money for the expensive outfit in a recession, these people said.

Mr. Rajaratnam then asked the analyst to walk back and forth on top of the conference table, said the people who attended. At that point, the firm’s chief financial officer, Rich Scutte, urged the presentation to stop.

The analyst declined to comment. Jim Walden, attorney for Mr. Rajaratnam said, “This is a complete misrepresentation of a serious research discussion about Lululemon’s products.”

*For example, this item was deemed “Too tight in the crotch.”

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Tags: Galleon Group, Luluelemon, Raj Rajaratnam, spandex, the extra mile

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