I was dismayed when I first about the desis who were arrested in the huge insider trading scandal in New York. Then I learned that the prosecutor is also a desi and it restored my confidence in the system. Even the Wall Street Journal Reporter who wrote the report for his paper is a desi.
US Attorney Preet Bharara from the Southern District of New York will be prosecuting the insider trading case against Raj Rajaratnam, Sri Lankan Tamil, Anil Kumar of McKinsey & Co., and Rajiv Goel of Intel Capital. This is a classic case of what happens to greedy people under a capitalist system of government. http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/005990.html Excerpt: S. Mitra Kalita’s Wall Street Journal article, “Desi vs. Desi” frames the news of the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history as part of a broader story of desis immigrating to the United States, developing networks with other desis, and their progress in the technology and financial industries (desis might have found hedge funds to be more of a meritocracy than the “cozy world of investment banking”). Those industries are at the center of the allegations that billionaire founder of Galleon Group Raj Rajaratnam, conspired with director of consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Anil Kumar and Intel Capital’s Rajiv Goel. Media reports included coverage of the downward effect of Rajaratnam’s recent arrest on the Colombo Stock Exchange in Sri Lanka, where “even rumors of his trades can send the stock market up or down” and transcripts from wiretaps of the illegal conversations at issue. But “Desi vs. Desi” brings up another interesting angle on the story about the case’s prosecution. The recently appointed U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who will be prosecuting the case against Rajaratnam is also desi. Preet Bharara, formerly the chief counsel to Senator Chuck Schumer, oversees hundreds of lawyers and high-profile cases, including the ongoing fraud case against Bernie Madoff. He’s been billed as The New Wall Street Nightmare. [end of excerpt]
