Big Insider Trading Case Begins Today

The former head of Galleon Group is set to go on trial today in Manhattan's Federal Court to answer to charges of insider trading. Rajaratnam is accused of acting on confidential information concerning Warren Buffet's plans to invest billions in Goldman Sachs in 2008. Buffet was getting great value for his investment, as the stock price at the time was $115, which was less than half of the price just one year earlier. Rajaratnam sought to take advantage of this insider information and purchase share of Goldman Sachs before Buffet's mulit-billion transaction which would create a surge in demand and lead to higher stock price. As predicted, after Warren Buffet's investment the market responded with buying frenzy and the Goldman shares increased to as much as $135 a share in after-hours trading. Needless to say, the Galleon Group's mission for windfall-like profit was accomplished. Was it really worth it Rajaratnam? Click chart below to see the complex web of insider trading that amounted to millions of illegal profits.

The use of surveillance and wire-tapping helped to being down the greedy trading ring, who all used pre-paid phones to avoid detection.

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K. Reilly
The Cohn-Reilly Report.com

Goldman: Witness for the Prosecution

Turning the tables, Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs is expected to testify in the hedge fund trail in Federal court as a witness for the prosecution. The testimony of the Wall Street big, should be a significant blow to the hedge fund titan Raj Rajaratnam. The SEC complaint contends that a tip from ex-Goldman Director, Rajat Grupta to Raj Rajaratnam concerning a large investment by Warren Buffet, lead to his purchase of securities. It was bad enough that Grupta breached confidentiality when he tipped his friend Rajaratnam off. However, Raj Rajaratnam transformed the breach to a federal fraud level by acting on the tip. It is alleged that Rajaratnam, bought shares within minutes of receiving the tip. No surprise that Rajat Grupta is also being charged with leaking confidential information to his friend at Galleon Group.
This insider trading case, has been in the NYC trial queue nearly 18 months. In late October of 2009, while the financial market was turning upside down, and cases fraud was beginning to hit a raw nerve in America, Raj Rajaratnam, was taken into custody for charges of insider trading. Raj Rajaratnam was founder of Galleon Securities which was investigated for insider trading of massive proportions, spanning no less than 6 other firms. Others cited as part of the insider trading ring include:

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Charged With Insider Trading
Name	Company	State
Danielle Chiesi,	New Castle Funds	NYC
Rajiv Goel,	Intel Capital (Subsidiary of Intel)	CA
Anil Kumar,	McKinsey & Company	CA
Mark Kurland,	New Castle Fund	Upstate NY
Robert Moffat,	IBM	CT

The trial that starts this week promises intriguing and disturbing headlines, as yet another tale of greed and entitlement is uncovered. Raj Rajaratnam is charged with 5 counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and 6 counts of securities fraud.

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K. Reilly
The Cohn-Reilly Report.com Check out the new Music and Art Forum on BlogSpot! "Its a refreshing departure from economics. it's like life's little desert snack."doARTorDIE