Billionaire, executives charged with insider trading
Getty Images ( 2009-10-16 20:08:42 )
US authorities Friday charged a billionaire hedge fund manager and five others with insider trading that netted 20 million dollars on trades in Google, Hilton Hotels Corp. and other companies.
The Justice Department filed the charges which named Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Management hedge fund and listed on the Forbes magazine list of billionaires as the 559th richest person in the world with 1.3 billion dollars.
Also charged in the scheme were Danielle Chiesi and Mark Kurkland, employees of the New Castle hedge fund group of the defunct Bear Stearns; Rajiv Goel of Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp.; Anil Kumar of the consultancy McKinsey & Co; and IBM senior vice president Robert Moffat.
"All are charged with participating in insider trading schemes that together netted more than 20 million dollars in illegal profits," said a statement from US Attorney Preet Bharara of New York.
"This case represents the first time that court-authorized wiretaps have been used to target significant insider trading on Wall Street."
Copyright 2009  AFP Global Edition
