Galleon founder denies insider trading charges and slams wire tap evidence
RAJ RAJARATNAM, the billionaire founder of hedge fund firm Galleon, denied federal insider trading charges and accused the government of violating his constitutional rights with its use of wiretaps.
Rajaratnam’s response to a US Securities and Exchange Commission civil complaint was filed in Manhattan federal court yesterday and may herald a broad attack on the allegations and the methods used to round up defendants in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in US history.
Some 20 defendants face criminal or civil charges and some both. Key evidence has come from the first court-approved wiretaps ever used in a Wall Street insider trading probe.
Rajaratnam denied SEC allegations that he conducted insider trading in stocks including Google, Hilton Hotels and Intel. He denied having knowledge sufficient to form a belief about alleged insider trading in other stocks, including IBM and Sun Microsystems.
Rajaratnam alleged the “unprecedented use of electronic surveillance” violating his constitutional and statutory rights.