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2011-03-09 07:16:12
Jury selection in the long-awaited trial of billionaire hedge fund manager Raj
Rajaratnam on charges of insider trading has begun in New York.
Judge Richard Holwell has told jurors that Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd
Blankfein is on a list of people who may be called to testify.
Mr Rajaratnam, who was arrested in October 2009, has pleaded not guilty to the
charges laid against him.
Some 150 potential jurors are being questioned by Judge Holwell.
Mr Rajaratnam was met by photographers and camera crews as he arrived at the
New York court for jury selection.
He has been free on bail of $100m. If found guilty, he could face more than 20
years in jail.
Judge Holwell said he expected opening statements to take place on Wednesday.
Phone taps
Analysis
image of Michelle Fleury Michelle Fleury BBC business correspondent, New York
They will be paying close attention to the outcome of the trial in financial
circles.
Information is the lifeblood of traders. But there's a fine line between acting
on rumours and tips, and acting on information that's private.
The government hopes this will help redefine that line, which is why this case
could change how business is done on Wall Street.
The New York federal prosecutor has described the case as the "largest hedge
fund insider trading case in history".
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said in its complaint filed
earlier this year that the case involved "widespread and repeated insider
trading" at a number of hedge funds, including Galleon.
According to the SEC, the alleged unlawful trading involved the use of inside
information on companies including Hilton Hotels and Intel.
Incidents cited in court documents describe the passing of information on
takeovers or company results before they were publicly released.
Mr Rajaratnam then traded on that information, often on behalf of Galleon, the
SEC alleges.
Mr Rajaratnam founded the Galleon Group hedge fund, which managed about $7bn at
the time of his arrest.
His personal wealth has been estimated at about $1.3bn.
More than a dozen people, including employees of some of America's biggest
companies, including IBM and Intel, have been criminally or civilly charged in
the complex case.
So far 19 have pleaded guilty.