By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
Hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, who became one of the more recent poster childs for greed and corruption on Wall Street, was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Manhattan to 11 years in prison and fined $10 million for insider trading, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. He was also ordered to forfeit $53.8 million.
U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell announced the sentence after declaring that Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group, had profited to the tune of $50 million, the station reported. Prosecutors had placed the profits at up to $75 million and had sought the maximum sentence of 24.5 years, NBC New York reported.
His lawyers had asked for leniency, citing his failing health.
“Two years ago, Raj Rajaratnam stood at the summit of Wall Street, commanding his own financial empire,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “Then he was arrested, tried, and convicted by a jury. Mr. Rajaratnam stood convicted 14 times over of felonies, his empire exposed as a web of fraud and corruption that entangled many.
“Today, Mr. Rajaratnam stood once more and faced justice which was meted out to him. It is a sad conclusion to what once seemed to be a glittering story. We can only hope that this case will be the wake-up call we said it should be when Mr. Rajaratnam was arrested.”
Janice K. Fedarcyk, head of the NY FBI added: “Raj Rajaratnam is no different from a host of others who falsely attributed impressive investment results to superior research and acumen. In fact, as his trial determined, he relied on—indeed, actively cultivated—insider information. His considerable fortune was built on a clandestine network of corruption and concealment. Raj Rajaratnam did not merely bend the rules; he broke the law. There is a price to pay for that.”
