Rajarengan “Rengan”, the brother of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, has entered a not guilty plea to federal fraud charges accusing him of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. The indictment stems from the same insider trading that landed Raj behind bars for 11 years and resulted in convictions for over two dozen co-conspirators.
The government had accused Raj of making up to $75 million dollars by trading on insider information given to him by other money managers or the employees of public companies. Now, federal prosecutors claim that Rengan made close to $1.2 million on illegal trades made in 2008 involving Advanced Micro Device and Clearwire Corp. He allegedly obtained insider tip about the securities of Hilton Hotels, Polycom, Akamai Technologies, Clearwater Corporation, and AMD from Raj.
In its related civil case, the Securities and Exchange Commission also is charging Rengan. The agency contends that between 2006 and 2008, Rengan repeatedly obtained insider information from his brother, making over $3 million in illicit gains not just for the hedge funds he oversaw at Sedna Capital Management, which he co-founded, and Galleon, but also for himself. The SEC is accusing Rengan of Securities Exchange Act of 1934 Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 violations.
The regulator has now filed securities charges against 33 defendants over the Galleon insider trading debacle, which involved a wide network of hedge funds, traders, corporate insiders, and investment professionals. Securities from over 15 companies were traded in the scam, with illicit gains exceeded $96 million.
SEC Charges Rengan Rajaratnam with Insider Trading, SEC, March 21, 2013
Read the SEC’s Complaint (PDF)
Rajaratnam Guilty in Insider-Trading Case, Bloomberg, May 11, 2011
More Blog Posts:
Ex-Goldman Sachs Board Member Accused of Insider Trading with Galleon Group Co-Founder Seeks to Have SEC Administrative Case Against Him Dropped, Institutional Investor Securities Blog, April 19, 2011
SEC Reaches $600M Insider Trading Settlement with SAC Capital Advisors-Affiliated Hedge Fund Advisory Firm, Stockbroker Fraud Blog, March 29, 2013