Battle Between Raj and WSJ Continues

Last week, we told you about a letter sent by Raj Rajaratnam’s new PR guy, Jim McCarthy to Wall Street Journal editor Mike Siconolfi complaining about the paper’s use of anonymous sources in their coverage of Raj. The specific complaint was that the paper used the phrase “a person familiar with the situation” to refer to their source, instead of identifying any inherent biases the source might have.
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Last week, we told you about a letter sent by Raj Rajaratnam’s new PR guy, Jim McCarthy, to Wall Street Journal editor Mike Siconolfi complaining about the paper’s use of anonymous sources in their coverage of Raj. The specific complaint was that the paper used the phrase “a person familiar with the situation” to refer to their source, instead of identifying any inherent biases the source might have.

Well, McCarthy doesn’t seem to have gotten the response he was looking for. In a new letter to deputy managing editor Alix Freeman, released yesterday on Raj's new web site, McCarthy claims Siconolfi scheduled a call to talk about the issue, but wouldn't talk unless the conversation remained under wraps.

Mike kindly scheduled a call earlier this week so that we could discuss the matter, but when that call began he oddly insisted that I agree no aspect of what was said be repeated publicly. Otherwise, he would refuse to talk to me.

I must say I found that posture ironic for a newspaperman, someone who supposedly values transparency and accountability and who demands exactly that from the subjects and sources he speaks with every day. I remain at a loss to understand his rationale and, as for the substance, suffice it to say my questions in the letter remain on the table.

McCarthy clearly believes the government is leaking sensitive information about the case against Raj to WSJ investigative reporter Susan Pulliam and he has also written a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder asking him to look into the leaks. McCarthy's firm, which helped decriminalize Peyote use among American Indians, is known for fighting back against attacks against its clients.

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Justice Department Probes Leaks in Galleon Case

Looks like Raj Rajaratnam’s complaints about leaks coming out the Justice Department on the Galleon case have not fallen on deaf ears. Raj’s attorney’s announced today that they have been informed by The DOJ’s Office of Professional Responsibility that it has opened an investigation into alleged leaks by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office to the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets.

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Hedge Funds

Raj Rajaratnam Basically Has Washboard Abs Now, Says Completely Objective Third Party

Back in December, things were not going so well for hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam. For starters, he had just reported to prison to serve an eleven year sentence for insider trading, where there would be no April Fool's day midgets or employees to tase or extra mayo to eat. Then there was the matter of the "unique constellation of ailments ravaging his body," and the kidney transplant he was said to need. Finally, and not that there's anything wrong with this, but if you're a person who thinks looks matter, he was fat. It would have been enough to send Raj into an understandable a tailspin of sorrow and despair. And yet? It turns out the Galleon founder is not only doing great but looks good too. How good? While we have no photographic evidence, consider that an attorney who does not represent the guy and was ostensibly speaking to Bloomberg about a story involving Raj declining to answer questions about a tax shelter case could not help but steer the conversation to Big R's new body. Rajaratnam, convicted last year of directing the largest hedge fund insider-trading scheme in U.S. history, was interviewed yesterday for about an hour and 45 minutes at the Federal Medical Center Devens in Ayers, Massachusetts. The deposition stems from a case involving a tax shelter Rajaratnam had invested in. He isn’t a defendant in the lawsuit. He refused to answer any of the more than 100 questions he was asked, invoking his right against self-incrimination under the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, said Howard Kleinhendler, an attorney representing the plaintiffs. “He looked good,” Kleinhendler, of Wachtel Masyr & Missry LLP in New York, said today in a phone interview, adding that Rajaratnam appeared to have lost weight since the last time he saw him, in 2007. Rajaratnam, 55, has said in court papers that he has health problems including diabetes and will probably need dialysis and a kidney transplant. “He was in good spirits,” Kleinhendler said. You'd be in a good mood too if you could finally see your feet again. Guy could be in a Thai prison right now and he'd be happy as a clam. Rajaratnam Silent In Tax-Shelter Deposition, Lawyer Says [Bloomberg]