From the Wall Street Journal
Federal prosecutors suffered the first
defeat in their half-decade-long crackdown on insider trading Tuesday
with the acquittal of
Raj Rajaratnam's
younger brother, a bracing reversal after a string of 81 convictions.
The
loss in some ways represented prosecutors' efforts coming full-circle:
The original investigation into
Rengan Rajaratnam's
trading years ago kick-started a probe into his older sibling
that ultimately uncovered a network of hedge-fund managers and analysts
sharing confidential tips and produced convictions that shook Wall
Street.
Rengan Rajaratnam far left with his defense team, Judge Naomi Buchwald presiding |
It took a federal jury less than
four hours to find Rengan Rajaratnam, 43 years old, not guilty of
taking part in that conspiracy. The acquittal followed a rebuke of parts
of the government's case by the judge who presided over the three-week
trial, and comes as an appeals court is weighing a decision in a
separate case that could raise the bar for prosecutors pursuing such
crimes.
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