Less than two weeks ago, Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in prison, after being convicted on 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy last May. Over the course of the trial, Raj had remained silent, choosing not to take the stand on his own behalf and offering no sound bites to reporters outside the courthouse, speaking only when it was absolutely necessary (to request “extra mayo“) and allowing his lawyer, John Dowd, to do the talking (asking a Wall Street Journal reporter how long one could reasonably expect him to continue “sucking on [U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet] Bahara’s teat,” declaring the guilty verdict a “23-14 victory” for the defense, and telling CNBC to “get the fuck out of here“). Recently, however, the former hedge fund manager decided to open up, allowing a reporter into his home where he pulled the curtain back on how this whole thing went down, starting with the state in which the Feds found him that fateful morning.

It was 6 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2009, and Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, was at home on* his exercise bike looking out over Manhattan’s Turtle Bay.

Raj could have mentioned that he next moved on to shirtless arm curls and was on 1,003 at the exact moment Bhara and his crew busted into the apartment but felt like bragging. For posterity’s sake, though, it should be noted that he did over 1,000.

Moving on.

What he was actually doing at tipster Rajiv Goel’s home all those times, contrary to what the press and the government would have you believe?

…the prosecution noted that Rajaratnam would visit Goel’s house in Silicon Valley, presumably to talk about Intel. But the real explanation is more human. “His wife makes really good chaat [a savory snack]!”

Okay, that’s believable, but what about the material non-public information he got elsewhere?

In his conversations with Anil Kumar, Rajaratnam had trusted him to decide what was and was not insider information. “I did not think a senior partner of McKinsey would violate the confidentiality of McKinsey. I assumed he was kosher, that he would not cross the line.” Rajaratnam does not speak well of Kumar. He calls him a choot—Hindi for “c–t.” “I’m not Indian, but that word fits him,” he says.

Most importantly, what possessed him to decline the deal that was offered to him in October 2009, which would have resulted in a maximum of five years in prison and only posed a minor disruption in his Tour de France training?

“Two or three years ago, before all of this stuff happened, my sister Vandani was in Singapore—she’s into all this stuff. She called me one day and said, ‘Raj, I met this person who said you’ll be betrayed by an Indian woman with a mole on her face.’?” He didn’t pay much attention to this prophecy. “Then I got indicted, and I saw a photo of Roomy Khan, with a huge mole on her face. The picture was from a few years ago. She had it surgically removed.” And at the end of the ola-leaf reader’s tape, the astrological conclusion heartened him. “He said that eventually I would prevail.” It fueled his conviction that he should fight the case all the way. It explains his puzzling insistence that he is innocent, in spite of the massive wiretap evidence to the contrary. This was his edge; this was inside information that no one else had.

The Outsider [TDB]

*Please note that it’s simply “on” his exercise bike.

Comments (39)

  1. Posted by Guesty | October 24, 2011 at 12:38 PM

    I’m sorry. I stopped reading and chocked my sandwich for 11 minutes at “exercise bike”.

  2. Posted by Where's the Beef | October 24, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    Betrayed by an American woman with a skunk on her chest more like.

  3. Posted by Shrunken Bits | October 24, 2011 at 12:42 PM

    Roomy? I barely knew her.

  4. Posted by Pope on a Rope | October 24, 2011 at 12:48 PM

    Moley moley moley moley….

  5. Posted by Bandersnatch | October 24, 2011 at 12:51 PM

    I understand. Astrology was the intellectual underpinning of our succesful campaign to defeat the Evil Empire.

    - Ron and Nancy

  6. Posted by Alt_EST | October 24, 2011 at 12:52 PM

    Khaaaaaaannnnn!!!!

    -Raj

  7. Posted by Kegels123 | October 24, 2011 at 12:54 PM

    Ignoring Indian oracles and then going to prison is the NKI

  8. Posted by Put_Option | October 24, 2011 at 12:56 PM

    I'm glad they reported such financially relevant things like Raj on an exercise bike, and steered clear of bold face lies like Raj on an exercise bike.

  9. Posted by I'm a Dude | October 24, 2011 at 12:57 PM

    "tour de france training"

    bess you're the best

  10. Posted by IgnorantBastards | October 24, 2011 at 1:03 PM

    they had a nice "chaat " about Intel

  11. Posted by IndianGuest | October 24, 2011 at 1:06 PM

    bitch the motherf*cker isn't indian…. looks like one of us, but he ain't

  12. Posted by Raj | October 24, 2011 at 1:08 PM

    He calls him a choot—Hindi for “c–t.” “I’m not Indian, but that word fits him,” he says.

  13. Posted by Dumb IndianGuest | October 24, 2011 at 1:09 PM

    My bad Kegel123, misread the article

  14. Posted by Not a Dermatologist | October 24, 2011 at 1:11 PM

    There will be a find a few more moles in him when he gets to prison.

  15. Posted by Anil Kumar | October 24, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    Raj, after all I did for you, you call me a choot, which is an Indian word for fucker or cunt.

    OF course I would betray the McKinsey policies for you, because I wanted to be your PAL (Personal-Ass-Licker). You see it’s in my brown skin and Indian Brahmin blood.

    McKinsey is filled with cheats like me. I even got the go-ahead from Rajat Gupta. He was worse than I was. And McKinsey paid me shit to travel 30,000 miles a month for “work.”

    I wanted to be a billionaire like you dude. And you call me a choot.

    Let’s see who the choot is now. And like the Fed’s told you — look at your dyslexic son and your fat-ugly wife Anita — you’re not going to see either of them for a while.

    So now… who is the choot?

    -Anil Kumar
    McKinsey Partner (former)
    Currently, free citizen.

  16. Posted by Sleeper | October 24, 2011 at 1:13 PM

    It was 6 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2009, and Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, was at home on his exercise bike looking out over a pile of meatlover pizza boxes he had polished off the night before…

    - Fixed it for ya in the interest of plausibility…

  17. Posted by Anil Kumar | October 24, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    Raj, after all I did for you, you call me a choot, which is an Indian word for fucker or cunt.

    OF course I would betray the McKinsey policies for you, because I wanted to be your PAL (Personal-Ass-Licker). You see it's in my brown skin and Indian Brahmin blood.

    McKinsey is filled with cheats like me. I even got the go-ahead from Rajat Gupta. He was worse than I was. And McKinsey paid me shit to travel 30,000 miles a month for "work."

    I wanted to be a billionaire like you dude. And you call me a choot.

    Let's see who the choot is now. And like the Fed's told you — look at your dyslexic son and your fat-ugly wife Anita — you're not going to see either of them for a while.

    So now… who is the choot?

    -Anil Kumar
    McKinsey Partner (former)
    Currently, free citizen.

  18. Posted by Guest of the 1% | October 24, 2011 at 1:14 PM

    he must be from the land of backofficestan then?

  19. Posted by HungryIntern | October 24, 2011 at 1:16 PM

    When did words like Ethical and Kosher ever become acceptable to use when talking about McKinsey and its business/analytical skills?

  20. Posted by Shrunken Bits | October 24, 2011 at 1:24 PM

    I sense a lot of hate in you. Hate leads to the dark side.

  21. Posted by Guest | October 24, 2011 at 1:28 PM

    Is it possible the prophet was refering to an actual mole, of the order rodentia?

    –Guy who wonders if things like this can be sometimes avoided by listening more carefully to prophecies

  22. Posted by Fan of A. Powers | October 24, 2011 at 1:34 PM

    "I'm gonna cut it off, chop it up, and make some guacaMOLE!!" – Austin Powers

  23. Posted by WCrasher | October 24, 2011 at 1:36 PM

    chaat & Wollensky

  24. Posted by Hon Richard Holwell | October 24, 2011 at 1:37 PM

    A friend of the court?

  25. Posted by Bandersnatch | October 24, 2011 at 1:54 PM

    Paying close attention to the oracle is key. Or so I'm told.
    - Croesus

  26. Posted by Castor | October 24, 2011 at 1:57 PM

    wrong vowel… its "Choot & Wollensky"

  27. Posted by Wink | October 24, 2011 at 2:09 PM

    All non-white people look the same to me.

    -Wink the Episcopalian

  28. Posted by Attention to detail | October 24, 2011 at 2:26 PM

    the expression is "bald faced lies"
    tks

  29. Posted by PMCO_sucks | October 24, 2011 at 2:34 PM

    i agree. i wanted to kiss her when i finished that line.

  30. Posted by wolverinejesus | October 24, 2011 at 2:54 PM

    Just watch out for the guns, Bess. They'll get ya.

  31. Posted by Raj's Tit Meat | October 24, 2011 at 2:55 PM

    Actually it's not, you choot.

  32. Posted by Happy | October 24, 2011 at 3:44 PM

    gold jacket green jacket, what's the difference

  33. Posted by Austin Martin | October 24, 2011 at 3:53 PM

    yeah baby

  34. Posted by MexiCanDo | October 24, 2011 at 3:55 PM

    I'll bet he eats a lot of Mole Rojo

  35. Posted by Jack Hanna | October 24, 2011 at 4:03 PM

    Whales do a lot of unusual things in captivity.

  36. Posted by Vader | October 24, 2011 at 4:44 PM

    Oh…is that why Raj is dark?

  37. Posted by Larry Ellison | October 24, 2011 at 6:17 PM

    Should've listened to my prophecies instead

  38. Posted by IndianGuest Ha! | October 25, 2011 at 6:50 PM

    Do you know anything about Raj? He is married to an Indian, hung out with Indians, donated to Indian causes. Now, creeps like IndianGuest are running a mile away from him – whats the problem in saying "he was practically Indian – he screwed up".

    IndiaGuest distancing himself from Raj reminds me of Einstein's saying "If I succeed, they will call me German, if i fail, they will say what did you expect – he was Jewish after all"

    Now Raj is a SriLankan for all these fair-weather Indians. Oh, I'm Indian.

  39. Posted by Yuan Yi Peng (袁毅鹏) | October 26, 2011 at 1:12 PM

    [ SOS ] Complaint about Human Rights Violations by IBM China on Centennial

    Please Google:

    IBM detained mother of ex-employee on the day of centennial
    or
    How Much IBM Can Get Away with is the Responsibility of the Media
    or
    Tragedy of Labor Rights Repression in IBM China

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