Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam has been arrested and charged in a $20 million insider-trading case.
Rajaratnam has been charged with four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of securities fraud. He is accused of making improper trades on inside information and passing along tips to others.
Born in Sri Lanka, Rajaratnam attended the prestigious St. Thomas’ College, Mt. Lavinia, and then studied engineering at U. of Sussex in England, before moving to the U.S. in 1981, and earning an M.B.A from Wharton two years later.
The self-made Hedge fund manager is now the 236th richest American, according to Forbes Magazine.
Galleon Group has returned 20% so far this year, outperforming the Nasdaq by 33%.
Five others have also been charged in the case: Rajiv Goel, director in strategic investments at Intel Corp.’s investment arm; Anil Kumar, a director at global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Co.; Danielle Chiesi and Mark Kurland of New Castle Partners LLC, the one-time equity hedge fund group at Bear Stearns Asset Management Inc.; and Robert Moffat, a senior vice president at International Business Machines Corp.
A press conference scheduled today at 1 p.m. EDT will provide more details.
