Tamil-origin billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, who is at the centre of hedge fund fraud case involving $20 million, today claimed innocence and said he is going to fight the charges.
Tamil-origin billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, who is at the centre of hedge fund fraud case involving $20 million, today claimed innocence and said he is going to fight the charges.
McKinsey & Co director Anil Kumar, an Indian-American accused of passing on the information about his company's client with two Abu Dhabi entities, also denied all charges.
Meanwhile, according to world's largest chip maker Intel Rajiv Goel, also in the docks in the same case, has been placed on administrative leave. Goel is managing director with Intel Capital.
Rajaratnam's lawyer Jim Walden, said, "He (Rajaratnam) is innocent. We're going to fight the charges." On other hand, Charles E Clayman, a lawyer for Kumar, said, "Anil Kumar is as shocked as everyone else who know him to see his name in his complaint."
"He (Kumar) is a man of integrity and honesty. He emphatically denies these charges," Clayman added.
All the three, along with three others, were arrested in the case involving the passing on insider information to trade securities in several publicly traded companies, including Google Inc and Hilton Hotels between 2006 and 2007.
US Attorney Preet Bharara had earlier noted that this case was the largest hedge fund case ever prosecuted. "This is not a garden-variety insider-trading case," he said. "This case represents the largest hedge-fund insider-trading case ever charged criminally."
A McKinsey spokesperson said, "The firm was distressed to learn that Kumar has been arrested and is looking into the matter urgently."
Kumar is believed to have been placed on administrative leave by his company. However, this could no be confirmed independently.
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Kumar passed on information about his company’s client Advanced Micro Devices finalizing deals with two Abu Dhabi sovereign entities.
The other accused Goel has been placed on administrative leave, according to Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy. The company has launched an internal investigation on whether Intel’s own stock was part of the fraud.
Goel is suspected of giving Rajaratnam, founder of hedge fund Galleon Group, a hedge fund, information about Intel's quarterly earnings.
Rajaratnam alone is alleged to have made $12.7mn in illegal profits for Galleon out of the 20 million made out of insider trading.
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