A lawyer for a witness in an insider-trading case will have to choose between his client and his personal ambition, a federal judge in Manhattan ruled on Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson of the Southern District of New York told the lawyer, Francisco Navarro, that he couldn’t continue to represent the witness, Ali Far, if he followed through on his intent to apply for a post in the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, Preet Bahrara, The Wall Street Journal reported.
“My belief is, if you do apply, you will be disqualified and your firm may be disqualified,” the judge said. Navarro is with the firm Kobre & Kim LLP.
Navarro acknowledged that he planned to apply to become an Assistant U.S. Attorney, but he said he had not yet done so. The judge told him he must not apply at this time if he continues to represent Far, The Journal reported.
Far, who founded a California hedge fund, is a cooperating witness in a broad insider-trading investigation. He is expected to testify against Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is accused by the government of reaping millions in illicit profits from an insider-trading scheme.
Just over a year ago, a prosecutor in the case announced his plans to leave the U.S. Attorney’s office and start his own firm, as we reported at the time.
