American Greed - Raj Rajaratnam

[MTR]

Was watching a show yesterday on this guy.

What I don't understand is why did he risk it all, he had made it. I know most will say greed, but I think there is much more to it, arrogance, power???

This is a guy worked from 7.00 am to 7.00 pm and expected his staff to do the same.

Fascinating story, he was born in Sri Lanka and became a billionaire during the technology boom of the 1990s and in 2009 arrested for insider trading. Estimated net worth of $1.8 billion. Now serving 11 year prison term for running biggest insider trading scheme in history.

This scandal brought down some very rich and powerful executives: former McKinsey managing director and Goldman Sachs director Raj Gupta, top IBM executive Bob Moffat, former AMD CEO and Globalfoundries chairman Hector Ruiz, and Intel Capital managing director Rajiv Goel, to name a few.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQCb5hV7idk

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/what-the-galleon-verdict-means/

 

[devank]

I think every one does it but only few get caught.

 

[MTR]

I think every one does it but only few get caught.

I must be naïve, I would expect most would not do this.

It would be very difficult for average person to network with the right people to source the right information that could potentially make millions, I certainly don't mix in those circles.

 

[weg]

Was watching a show yesterday on this guy.

What I don't understand is why did he risk it all, he had made it.

Chances are he was always dodgy.

He possibly became more brazen the longer he got away with it and as he got wealthier and more powerful.

 

[devank]

I must be naïve, I would expect most would not do this.

It would be very difficult for average person to network with the right people to source the right information that could potentially make millions, I certainly don't mix in those circles.

I didn't mean an average person like us. 'Everyone' in that context means hedge fund directors.

This is one of the reason not to touch shares because it is too late by the time any news come to us!

 

[mflying]

insider trading does exist and i have seen few benficiery of it myself!

it is just a matter of how ppl do it and mitigate risk of getting caught!!

 

[MTR]

Risk vs Reward, I think I will still to my property stuff, get some tips along the way, but no chance of going to jail

 

[Aaron_C]

Insider trading happens all the time. It is notoriously hard to prove, though.

 

[china]

I must be naïve, I would expect most would not do this.

It would be very difficult for average person to network with the right people to source the right information that could potentially make millions, I certainly don't mix in those circles.

You don't need to network with many people. All you need is a single piece of information from one person that tells you that a particular stock will go up and then you can make enough to retire in one purchase.

 

[DaveM]

So long as he was in the 1% thats all that matters. Cash is king

 

[china]

So long as he was in the 1% thats all that matters. Cash is king

This man went way beyond the simple 1% goal.

You only need a measly 5-6mil to join this club. Most likely, he had some pathological greed combined with the opportunity in terms of like minded peers.

 

[MTR]

In one transaction this guy made $5M in one day.

All his contacts were happy to rat him out and send him behind bars to save their own rear, the Feds were only interested in the big fish.

I think he had to pay $93,000,000 fine, short change for him.

IMO no amount of money would be worth the risk.

MTR

 

[willair]

Insider trading would be very complex in the high end,but there are a few chat rooms out there that seem to have some very high end day traders
that have 2-3 day prior knowledge before some asx listed that
spike out of normal patterns,maybe they just study them 24/7 or someone passed them a paper bag ..

 

[devank]

All his contacts were happy to rat him out and send him behind bars to save their own rear, the Feds were only interested in the big fish.

I found this somewhere on the web..
These are taken from an interview:

“There are two types of plea bargains. One is, you cooperate with the government. You finger 10 other people. The other is a plea bargain without cooperation.” The white defendants all pleaded without cooperating; they did not wear a wire. “The South Asians all did the plea bargain with fingering,” he notes sourly. “The Americans stood their ground. Every bloody Indian cooperated—Goel, Khan, Kumar.”

They wanted him to turn in other hedge-fund managers. They wanted him, especially, to wear a wire and tape his conversations with Rajat Gupta, the former CEO of McKinsey. Gupta, whom Rajaratnam refers to as a “first-class guy,” was the most respected Indian executive in the U.S.

Rajaratnam was still being asked by the government to turn on Gupta. But he wouldn’t wear a wire, he says, so he could sleep at night. “They wanted me to plea-bargain. They want to get Rajat. I am not going to do what people did to me. Rajat has four daughters.”

Are you a Goodie or Baddie if you betrayal a criminal?

 

[china]

I found this somewhere on the web..
These are taken from an interview:


Are you a Goodie or Baddie if you betrayal a criminal?

This is a very tough question. Should there be honour amongst theives? In many criminal gangs e.g. traditional mafiosio. the worst retributions and punishments were reserved for those who betrayed their "brothers". This is the only way a criminal organisation could safeguard its own.

 

[MTR]

I think it would come down to a matter of "self preservation", you would do whatever it takes.

 

[china]

I think it would come down to a matter of "self preservation", you would do whatever it takes.

Still difficult. The authorities will cut you a deal to betray your co-conspirators but then your co-conspirators will come after you. So it is hard to know what the best course of action is in terms of self preservation.

 

[MTR]

Yes, you would be taking your chances to a degree... "damned if you and damned if you don't'.

But in this case it is not mafia or outlaw bikie gangs that have been betrayed, "white collar crime" not the same, and they still have money and resources to mitigate the risk.


Jordan Belfort, "The Wolf of Wall Street" ratted on everyone and has gone on to bigger and better things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3K92uugO9o

 

[redwing]

"The only problem with an honest buck is they’re so hard to make – the margins are too low, too many people are doin’ it."

– Yuri Orlov, illegal arms dealer

 

[John_]

Still difficult. The authorities will cut you a deal to betray your co-conspirators but then your co-conspirators will come after you. So it is hard to know what the best course of action is in terms of self preservation.

pretty simple that is not to rat on your co-conspirators or anyone in life.