Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge-fund tycoon and Galleon Group LLC co-founder at the center of a nationwide insider trading crackdown, was found guilty of all 14 counts against him in the largest illegal stock-tipping case in a generation.
The jury did not buy the argument that he was just "smart"; they instead found him guilty of trading on inside information and violating the law.
Rajaratnam used inside information to trade ahead of public announcements about earnings, forecasts, mergers and spinoffs involving more than a dozen companies, according to the evidence at the trial.
That never actually happens, right?
Oh wait, it appears it does. Indeed, I've been writing about apparent violations of this sort pretty much since The Ticker began publication. The Crime on August Expiration in 2007 anyone?
Have any material number of these been prosecuted? No. But that one guy who was accused has now been found guilty across the board is a clear indication that when the government bothers to look for illegal conduct they don't have much of a problem finding it, nor in winning the cases they bring.
