Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Read This: The New Yorker on Galleon’s ‘King of Kings’

Suave men on Wall Street who have something to hide, a former beauty queen who slept with men for information, and millions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts.

Emmanuel Dunand/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Above, Raj Rajaratnam after he was convicted for fraud and conspiracy in Wall Street’s biggest insider trading trial, in New York, this year.

That's a rich enough mix of elements to write a fascinating crime thriller. But it's even better when it all happened in real life.

We're referring to the story of Raj Rajaratnam, the son of a Sri Lankan sewing-machine company manager who became a hedge fund billionaire in New York, thanks to a network of informants who helped him game Wall Street.

The 53-year-old liked to tell people that his first name meant "king" in Hindi, and when coupled with his last name, made him a "king of kings." By late 2009, his hedge fund Galleon Group managed $3.7 billion in assets.

The Wall Street Journal has been tracking Mr. Rajaratnam's fate since October 2009 when he was charged with securities fraud. Last month, he was convicted on these and other charges in a court in New York.

Even those who have followed our coverage closely will find it enjoyable to read a behind-the-scenes narrative on this case published in the most recent edition of the New Yorker. In "A Dirty Business," writer George Packer lays out how Mr. Rajaratnam cultivated his web of tipsters, many of whom were South Asians.

The article describes [...]



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