Raj Rajaratnam (of Galleon Group fame) got what he had coming today.
11 years in federal prison - the longest sentence for insider trading in history. Plus a $10 million fine to boot; pile that on top of his lawyer fees.
He deserves it. He operated a huge network of executives and analysts who routintely exploited insider information for profit. Not that I consider insider trading particularly out of the ordinary, but I like to believe that most shops haven't made it as large a part of their day-to-day business practice as Galleon did.
This is important. The investigation that led to this trial was the first time that wiretaps were used in an insider trading case. Talk about a game changer. The possibility Big Brother listening in on your phone calls will make networks such as Raj's considerably harder to operate moving forward. And that's the really determined people. There will be a lot of others who will simply stop trading on tips for fear of prosecution. This will lead to fairer markets going forward.
Kudos to the investigators and the prosecutors.
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