Hilton trades lead to Raj
Unusual trades in Hilton Hotels stock, detected by the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), helped lead to billionaire investor Raj Rajaratnam and five others being charged with insider trading last week.
Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam allegedly made a $4m (£2.4m) profit in July 2007 by buying 400,000 shares in Hilton after receiving non-public information about the upcoming purchase of the hotel chain by US buyout group Blackstone, according to criminal documents filed last week by US prosecutors.
After detecting “unusual activity and after investigating we referred them to the SEC,” the NYSE said.
US authorities on Friday charged Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund, and others with making up to $20m in illegal profits through a network of secret informants. Rajaratnam denies all charges.