Starkly different portraits of convicted hedge fund maestro Raj Rajaratnam emerged on Tuesday, with prosecutors calling him “the face of illegal insider trading” and arguing that he should be sent to prison until he is an old man and defense lawyers describing him as a man whose charitable acts have “enriched countless lives.”
Rajaratnam, 54, deserves to spend at least 19 years 7 months in prison for the 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy on which he was found guilty in May (see Main Justice’s report) and perhaps as much as 24 years 5 months, prosecutors said in a filing before U.S. Judge Richard Holwell of the Southern District of New York, who is scheduled to sentence Rajaratnam on Sept. 27.
But defense lawyers, led by John Dowd, asked the judge to impose a term “substantially below” what federal guidelines recommend, asserting that their client is in poor health and that a long term could mean that Rajaratnam will die in prison, as Bloomberg reported.
“Rajaratnam repeatedly leveraged the power of money and his position as the head of a $7 billion hedge fund to induce friends, employees and associates to participate in his criminal activities,” Justice Department lawyers said in their sentencing memorandum. “He is the modern face of illegal insider trading.”
But defense lawyers said their client “is not a healthy man,” citing “significant and challenging medical issues” that are known to the court’s probation department, which is preparing a pre-sentencing report to guide the judge. “His death will be hastened by a term of imprisonment.”
Defense lawyers have submitted numerous letters on their client’s behalf, attesting to his charitable donations and supporting their assertion that he has enriched many lives.
It is no surprise that prosecutors are seeking a long prison term. Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has made Wall Street wrongdoing a target, and he showed his interest in the Rajaratnam trial by sitting in on numerous sessions.
