Raj Rajaratnam

  • 08 Apr 2011 at 1:09 PM

Former Galleon Employee Zvi “Octopussy” Goffer Charged With More Securities Fraud

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Ahead of his trial for insider trading, the array of insider information that Zvi Goffer AKA Mr. Octopussy AKA Dances with Tracksuits allegedly dipped each and every one of his tentacles in has resulted in 6 extra charges, bringing the ex-Galleon trader and founder of Incremental Capital’s total to 14. Continue reading »

  • 04 Apr 2011 at 5:45 PM

Raj Rajaratnam Was Blown Away By The Level Of Class Danielle Chieisi Demonstrated While Insider Trading

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The Maestro

As we’ve previously discussed, Danielle Chiesi herself as admitted she was able to get a leg up on other insider traders by making sure to have both legs up in the air while in the company of some highly placed tech executives. Having said that, she knew that with others, like the guys not interested in opening their ‘hearts‘ to women besides their wives, a different tactic was necessary to get them to spill.

“They’re gonna guide down,” Chiesi told Raj Rajaratnam, according to a wiretap of their conversation on July 24, 2008, six days before Akamai made its public announcement. “I just got a call from my guy. I was talking about the family and everything and then he said, people think it’s gonna go to 25.”

“Honey, you know what, it’s just for us,” Chiesi continued, according to the tape. “We go slow, keep shorting every day.” “I played him like a finely tuned piano,” she added.

It’s one thing to deploy one’s “sexuality to build sources at male-dominated tech companies” but it’s quite another to know when to switch gears and ask questions about how their kids are doing, all the while waiting, knowing what’s coming. That Chiesi had such skills was not the only thing that stuck out to Raj, however. He was equally if not more so impressed with the high moral character she demonstrated while obtaining material non-public information. Continue reading »

  • 04 Apr 2011 at 4:25 PM

Judge Will Not Spare Jury From Hearing Raj Rajaratnam And Danielle Chieis Talk Dirty To Each Other

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The defense attempted to get Raj off on these particular conversations by arguing they had no relevance to the matter at hand. Continue reading »

  • 29 Mar 2011 at 11:58 AM

Former Galleon Employee: Raj Told Me To Feel Free To Insider Trade During My Time At The Firm

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A former hedge fund executive says his ex-boss gave him the green light to break the law by gathering secrets about the technology industry. Adam Smith testified Tuesday that Raj Rajaratnam’s Galleon used the information to “get an edge” on massive trades. Smith secretly pleaded guilty last year. He agreed to record phone calls in the far-reaching investigation of Wall Street misdeeds. [AP]

  • 28 Mar 2011 at 4:31 PM

A Little Perspective For Raj Rajaratnam: It Could Be Worse (You Could Be Barry Bonds)

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Yes, everyone who’s testified so far has said you’ve paid them for inside information to trade, that you told them to keep the activities on the hush hush and that you played favorites with your tipsters. Each and every time someone takes the witness stand it gets worse and worse, like a bomb that won’t stop exploding. Still, despite nearly two months to go, it seems unlikely anyone could get up there and do you as bad as this: Continue reading »

  • 28 Mar 2011 at 1:48 PM

A Prosecutor’s Love Of Water Sports May Be The One Thing That Can Save Raj Rajaratnam From Jail Time

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If you’ve been keeping up with the Raj Rajaratnam insider trading trial, you may have come to the conclusion that things have not been going so hot for the Galleon founder. Though he is of course innocent until proven guilty, so far jurors have heard that Raj’s brother felt the need to destroy his big brother’s “private notebooks,” tapes of Raj telling Danielle Chiesi to keep their dealings on the down low, tapes of Raj telling a friend he knew to buy shares of a company because “one of our guys is on the board,” and testimony from former McKinsey exec that Raj paid him $1 million for his tip about AMD’s acquisition of ATI, leaving one to conclude Rajaratnam doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting off. Unless, of course, some sort of improbable information emerged, like evidence that it wasn’t actually Raj on all those taped phone calls, or the 7-man defense team caught a lucky break. A tip, if you will, that they’d be fools not to trade on. Continue reading »

  • 28 Mar 2011 at 11:20 AM

Raj Rajaratnam Defense Team Would Prefer Jury Not Hear About His Brother (Allegedly) Destroying Evidence Of (Alleged) Insider Trading

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Shortly after Raj Rajaratnam was arrested on Oct. 16, 2009, his brother Rengan went into the Galleon Group LLC’s co-founder’s office and removed his sibling’s private notebooks, former Galleon trader Adam Smith told prosecutors, according to a court filing made yesterday. Raj Rajaratnam’s lawyers yesterday filed a legal request asking a judge to bar Smith from testifying about Rengan Rajaratnam’s actions on Oct. 16. Prosecutors wanted to offer the account from Smith, who may testify for the government this week, “to prove the existence of the charged conspiracy and Rengan’s membership in it,” they wrote in court papers. [Bloomberg, earlier]