Time was, Anil Kumar was Raj Rajaratnam’s “hero” and “star.” That was when Anil was giving Raj the good stuff, meaning hot material, non-public information about various companies that the Galleon founder could trade on. Then Kumar’s work started slipping, in comparison to fellow foot soliders like Danielle Chiesi, whose red fishnet stockings Kumar could not compete with and before you knew it, Anil wasn’t even worth the $1 million/year Rajaratnam was paying him for tips.

Kumar wants to “be a mini-Rajat” without “bringing anything to the party,” Rajaratnam told Gupta on the recording. Rajaratnam said on the tape that he had been paying Kumar $1 million annually for years — “after-taxes, offshore, cash” — in return for “little or nothing.” “Keep your eyes and ears open,” Rajaratnam told Gupta. “If you hear anything, just anything you think may be interesting — which I will track down and see what’s in the market — I’ll bring that angle to you.”

Anil got to hear that dialogue today in court. Must have stung. Better to know, now though, that Raj is a ‘what have you done for me lately’ guy. Also nice how makes one underling feel good by making another one feel bad, just as we suspected while playing arm-chair psychologist earlier today.