New date of September 27 set for Rajaratnam sentencing

Convicted Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will be sentenced on September 27, a federal judge ordered on Thursday, postponing the proceeding from July 29 in the biggest insider trading case of a generation.

Rajaratnam, 53, faces up to 25 years in prison.

A Manhattan federal court jury convicted Rajaratnam on May 11 on all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud with which he was charged in a sweeping case marked by the use of extensive FBI wiretaps for the first time in a white-collar criminal investigation.

US prosecutors arrested Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam in October 2009, among more than two dozen charged in what prosecutors called the biggest probe of insider trading at hedge funds on record.

The change in the sentencing date to September 27 from July 29 was agreed by the office of the Manhattan US attorney and Rajaratnam's lawyers, according to an order signed by presiding US District Judge Richard Holwell.

The case is USA v Raj Rajaratnam et al, US District Court for the Southern District of New York.