FederalGrand Jury Indicts Rajaratnam, Chiesi

The indictment charges Rajaratnam with five counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and six counts of securities fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. The indictment also charges Chiesi with three counts of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and seven counts of securities fraud.

The indictment follows actions in October, when prosecutors unsealed complaints and arrested Rajaratnam, Chiesi and four other executives, in what U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the largest insider-trading case involving hedge funds.

Fourteen more individuals were charged in November as part of government investigations into insider trading at hedge funds and stock-trading firms. Five already have pleaded guilty to insider trading.

Rajaratnam and Chiesi have denied the charges. “There’s nothing new by way of allegations in this indictment from the criminal complaint filed two months ago,” said Alan Kaufman, Chiesi’s lawyer, in an interview. “We have been ordered to appear in court before the judge next Monday. My client will plead not guilty.”

Rajaratnam’s lawyer, John Dowd of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, said in a statement that his client is innocent.

Source

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 9:52 pm and is filed under Securities Fraud. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.