Raj Rajaratnam, former head of the Galleon Group hedge funds, leaves Federal Court in New York after the third day of his insider trading trial Thursday, March 10, 2011. Credit: David Karp / AP Photo
Former hedge-fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam has been sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined $10 million for insider trading, less than half the time prosecutors requested but still the longest-ever such sentence. Rajaratnam, the founder of Galleon Group, got tips from a network of insiders in Goldman Sachs, Google, Intel, and other companies. Prosecutors say he made $72 million from insider trading, while Rajaratnam’s lawyers say it was only $7.4 million. He was charged along with 25 other people in one of the largest insider-trading schemes in U.S. history. Prosecutors originally sought a sentence of up to 24 years, but the judge granted him a more lenient sentence due to imminent health problems, including kidney failure. Rajaratnam may have white-collar company in prison: he will likely serve time at the Butner Federal Correction Complex, where Bernie Madoff is currently imprisoned.
