Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire investor who ran one of the world’s largest hedge funds, may get the longest prison term ever for the crime of insider trading, which would be the longest insider trading sentence in history.

‘Federal prosecutors want to send the convicted hedge fund chief Raj Rajaratnam to prison for as long as 24 years’, stated the New York Times.

In May, a jury convicted Mr. Rajaratnam, the head of the hedge fund the Galleon Group, of 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors, calling him “the modern face of illegal insider trading,” placed him at the center of a vast insider trading ring, accusing him of using a global network of tipsters to gain about $64 million from illegal stock trading, the New York Times further stated.

The news paper also stated that for Mr. Rajaratnam, the US government has requested a sentence from 19 years and seven months to 24 years and five months, based on federal sentencing guidelines. The US government said he did not deserve leniency because he was a “fundamentally deceptive and dishonest person” who had lied under oath in a deposition and had tried to cover up his crimes.

For the full report, follow
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/in-galleon-insider-case-prison-term-is-seen-as-test/