Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The convicted insider trader, Raj Rajaratnam, has been handed a record fine by the SEC in a civil case

A judge ordered the former founder of Galleon Group, a hedge fund, to pay $92.8 million in penalties. This comes on top of the $63.8 million lawyers say that he has already paid out in the criminal case. Rajaratnam was sentenced in October 2011 to 11 years in jail for one of the biggest insider trading cases in American history. Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam was convicted of 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy charges in May 2011 after a two-month trial. The Securities and Exchange Commission requested that the fine be equal to three times the profits made by Rajaratnam through his illegal trades, or the maximum fine permitted under law. "The penalty imposed today reflects the historic proportions of Raj Rajaratnam's illegal conduct and its impact on the integrity of our markets," the SEC's Robert Khuzami, said in a statement. Rajaratnam is due to start his prison sentence in December 2011.

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