Six high tech investors face insider trading charges

Well, it looks like former Qwest leader Joe Nacchio is not the only one to be brought to justice for profiting from insider trading. Now, federal prosecutors have brought charges against hedge fund Galleon Group leader Raj Rajaratnam and five other hedge funders arguing they made off with millions from insider trading with major technology companies Akamai, Clearwire, Google and Intel.

Last Friday, federal prosecutors in New York brought charges against Rajaratnam alleging that the sextet received $20 million from illegal insider trading.

As reported [1] in FierceTelecom's sister publication FierceBroadbandWireless, Rajaratnam, the founder of hedge fund Galleon Group was joined by five other accomplices: Rajiv Goel, an executive at Intel's treasury department; Anil Kumar, an executive at the global consulting group Mc-Kinsey & Co.; Mark Kurland, president of New Castle Partners; Danielle Chiesi, a former Bear Stearns executive who now works at New Castle; and Robert Moffatt, an IBM executive. In charges filed against the group, federal prosecutors said this group provided Rajaratnam with financial information on companies such as Akamai, Clearwire, Google and Intel.

Augmenting Rajaratnam's informant network was an unnamed Akamai employee who gave Galleon insider information on the company's financial performance. This, according to an article [2] in The Boston Globe enabled Galleon to gain $3.5 million from trading in company stock. Interestingly, Cambridge, Mass.-based Akamai's leak comes despite the company's strict guidelines not to speak to investors for a month before they file quarterly financial results. 

For more:
- The Boston Globe has this article [2]

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Top high-tech investors nabbed for insider trading involving Google, Intel, Clearwire and others
[1]Former Qwest CEO has a lucky day [3]
[1]Nacchio seeking new trial, Supreme Court review
[4]Court previously denied Nacchio bail bid [5] [1]