Insider Trading Defendants, Wasting no Time, Lawyer Up
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged six individuals, including hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, with insider trading on Friday. Defense lawyers--including Jim Walden of Gibson Dunn and Alan Kaufman of Kelley Drye--are already on the case.
The American Lawyer
By Brian Baxter
October 17, 2009
This article first appeared on The Am Law Daily.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged six individuals, including hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, with insider trading on Friday. (Rajaratnam posted a $100 million bond and was ordered to remain within 110 miles of New York City, Reuters reports.)
The securities and commodities fraud task force is supervising the matter--reportedly the biggest hedge fund insider-trading scheme ever. Prosecutors and the SEC have accused the individuals of earning more than $25 million from illegal trading over three years in companies like Akamai, Google, and Hilton Hotels, the New York Times reports.
Rajaratnam's name also allegedly turned up in a separate federal probe into the U.S. fundraising activities of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist Sri Lankan terrorist group, reports The Wall Street Journal. Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn secured guilty pleas from four individuals in that investigation in June, although The Times of India reports that Rajaratnam, of Sri Lankan heritage, might not necessarily have known that donations he made to a charity were being funneled to the Tigers.
The Am Law Daily has learned that the following defense lawyers have been retained:
1. Jim Walden, cochair of the white collar defense practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (once on the shortlist for the top post at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York), is representing Raj Rajaratnam, 53, a partner and portfolio manager at Galleon Group.
2. Manuel Araujo, a federal public defender in California, represented Rajiv Goel, 51, director of strategic investments at Intel Capital at a court appearance on Friday in San Jose.
3. Charles Clayman and Isabelle Kirshner from New York’s Clayman & Rosenberg, are representing Anil Kumar, 51, a director at McKinsey & Co., Inc.
4. Kerry Lawrence of Briccetti, Calhoun & Lawrence (a former assistant U.S. attorney who once served as deputy assistant-in-charge of the branch office in White Plains, N.Y.), is representing Robert Moffat, Jr., 53, a senior vice president and group executive at IBM's systems and technology group.
5. Lawrence Iason of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, is representing Mark Kurland, 60, president and general partner at New Castle, the former equity hedge fund group of Bear Stearns Asset Management.
6. Alan Kaufman of Kelley Drye & Warren (former chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan), is representing Danielle Chiesi, 43, a employee at New Castle.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Josh Klein and Jonathan Streeter and special assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Michaelson are prosecuting the case.
The Am Law Daily has learned that the following defense lawyers have been retained:
1. Jim Walden, cochair of the white collar defense practice at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (once on the shortlist for the top post at the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York), is representing Raj Rajaratnam, 53, a partner and portfolio manager at Galleon Group.
2. Manuel Araujo, a federal public defender in California, represented Rajiv Goel, 51, director of strategic investments at Intel Capital at a court appearance on Friday in San Jose.
3. Charles Clayman and Isabelle Kirshner from New York’s Clayman & Rosenberg, are representing Anil Kumar, 51, a director at McKinsey & Co., Inc.
4. Kerry Lawrence of Briccetti, Calhoun & Lawrence (a former assistant U.S. attorney who once served as deputy assistant-in-charge of the branch office in White Plains, N.Y.), is representing Robert Moffat, Jr., 53, a senior vice president and group executive at IBM's systems and technology group.
5. Lawrence Iason of Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, is representing Mark Kurland, 60, president and general partner at New Castle, the former equity hedge fund group of Bear Stearns Asset Management.
6. Alan Kaufman of Kelley Drye & Warren (former chief of the criminal division at the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan), is representing Danielle Chiesi, 43, a employee at New Castle.
