Rajaratnam Guilty of Insider Trading: Chilling Effect or Business as Usual?

How many "Raj's" are out there... countless. AIG insured the investment bankers bad investments and the US Govt bailed them all out... once you learn to dance around the obvious enough, you'll never get caught selling insider information

So we go after a guy who made a couple of mil on some insider knowledge he used but then that is vague line and easy to straddle. But we didnt go after the people responsible for the crisis that is still going on to this day that the government swears isnt getting worse. We allowed the mortgage guys and the banks that just handed out loans like they were water to keep what money they made with not even a stern warning hell we looked at them and went awwwwe poor babies u guys stuck ur hand in the cookie jar and got it stuck here let us free ur hands and hell we will even have the taxpayers come buy u more cookies to fill ur cookie jar so u can do it again.

holy crap! what a transparent exercise in rationalization and a great sign of the contempt that wall street holds for basic securities laws.

It is illegal to profit from inside information. Period. Trust and confidence in the public markets is required for capitalism to work and inside trading, just like false dealing in cards, undermines the very basis for capitalism.

I get that defining inside information can be dicey. But the evidence against this guy was not walking that fine line. It's alternately sickening and laughable to hear them imply it's ok because he didn't make enough money from his insider trading to be a crime, or imply that he shouldn't go to jail because it won't deter other hedge fund managers from doing the same thing.

This nicely summarizes a big chunk of what is wrong with this country right now. A rich guy broke the law to get richer. The media is trying to convince the public he shouldn't go to jail for it.

Imprisoning small time drug dealers (another victimless crime) does not deter other drug dealers. But I don't hear many talking heads suggesting we stop arresting them. Many drug dealers aren't arrested, even though cops know what they are doing due to lack of evidence. I've never heard anyone suggest we shouldn't prosecute burglars because we haven't arrested enough drug dealers yet. The logic used would shame a 5th grader.

Thanks for giving these morons a pedestal.

Get the rest of them. Why this one? Go get ALL of them!!!

They are all crooks and the cause of all the financial trouble in the west today.It's about time they had a taste of real justice.A minimum of 10 years would be a good start.

Instead of sending these insider crooks to jail why don't we just take all their money, ie: their houses, their bank accounts - even those that they set up for the kids and wives - and apply it towards the deficit and those that they have committed the crime against - mainly the American public and market and creditials and put a permanent mark on them so that they can no longer be in the equities markets? If you are going to live your life as a crook and an immoral facist then you can have the mark and start from scratch.

Neither Macke nor Nesto say that Raj did not break the law. They appear to be saying that nothing should be done because "you can't legislate morality." Well, maybe we shouldn't prosecute rapists and pedophiles for the same reason. Raj is convicted. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Great quote by the US attorney ; "there are laws....etc. What a load of @#$%.
There was also a law which governed the issuance of mortgages. It stated that banks MUST verify that the borrower is able to afford the mortgage. Anybody prosecuting that one ? Of course not. Any politician who attempted to do so would lose massive political donations. Bank and broker big shots laid low for a year or so. Now they're right back to getting massive compensation.
Banks created 64 diiferent types of mortgages to maximize the pool of debts they could sell. They KNEW most of them would fail. Any idiot with a high school education KNEW they would fail All they needed to do was throw a couple of good ones in to sell the bond. People lost homes, jobs and pensions. The banks, and more important, the BANKERS, are back to business as usual. This country has gone in the toilet. America's slogan for the 21st. century: " He who has the most money wins".

When are the Wall Street Banks CEO and Board goes to Jail, Here is a hand full of banks that broke our country and we bail them out and no went to Jail. See the Inside Job for the true story. How about star locking up the big wall Street Banks. Oh that right they donate to all the lawmaker including the office of the President on both sides, It is true we had the best lawmaker money can buy!!!!

Macke and Nesto's persona on air showcases why we, Mom & Pop investors, don't feel this is insignificant. While they were nowhere to be found, as were other commentators about the dangers inherent in the leveraged mortgage markets, there brethren shorting the very instruments they invested our assets in, we were losing our college funds in 529 plans (see Oppenheimer lawsuits & settlement), losing our retirement in our 401k plans, and the value of most individuals greatest asset, their home.

If Macke is cynical about this conviction, we are more than cynical about hedge fund managers and the large financial institutions that have not been held accountable for their outrageous mismanagement of financial markets. He projects a sense of being above accountability, where greed and ego, take the place of integrity.

We want more heads on the block, because they belong there, along with the Barney Franks of the world who seem to love to find the highest pulpit to speak down at we lowly commoners. We who are supposed to accept your mismanagement of our investments while forced to listen to you lecture, as if your incompetence never existed and no one should be held accountable.

Just continue to be cynical Macke, because we are going to ask for the heads of many more significant players in this fiasco you are a part of.

Its time to put the white collar criminals in a real prison not some pansy prison so they get the full flavor of what prison is like among convicted burglars and their kind. Members of Congress can't be convicted of insider trading(reported by Wall Street Journal) so you don't expect them to
push for major overhauls of the market-you might have to convict them.

Seem like Raj forgot to BRIBE the top brass of Securities and Exchange Commission.This is nothing new, Wall street is full of insider trading rich make more money out of it and we small investor always get screwed on top of that these commercialized media (useless) will let you know only what is good for them.

So happy to learn the prosecution prevailed and the blatant efforts by Raj to obtain and use inside information will be punished. Other criminals beware!!!! Hope he pays restitution and serves at least 10 years in a medium security prison.

I'd be more interested in seeing the architects and players in the mortgage industry meltdown go to jail for the market manipulation that created the 2008 crash. That damage has been felt by millions of middle class people around the world in their day to day lives: housing values and portfolio values plummet, pension payments reduced, etc., just when millions of people are either recently retired or looking to retire soon.

It's easier to wire tap one guy, take him down and make a big PR event of it than it is to investigate and try thousands of people in the mortgage, investment banking, real estate businesses and related government agencies - all of whom had a field day ripping off the middle class left and right in an unregulated environment. Those are the people the general public needs to worry about. And they are still walking freely amongst us.

Raj is just one of the few that got caught. It's like illegal immigration, they catch 445,000 and 3 to 4 times that many get through. Much like immigration wall street is regarded with the same passe attitude. To say it is widespread and impossible to effectively control is no answer.
To solve this problem will require a commitment and a zero tolerance by the SEC and the US Attorneys Office. If there are no serious consequences there is no serious regard for the law. We produce more lawyers than any nation on earth. We have 2.2 million people in prison. Yet we have a system that has a propensity to evade prosecution of white collar crimes. It's true, you cannot legislate integrity, however simply and consistently enforcing the law is a start.

A Chilling Effect on Business as Usual? I certainly hope so!

Messrs Nesto and Macke are, perhaps, allowing a natural tendency toward cynicism to place themselves in the victims camp entitled "Overwhelming Odds". Yes, there are a large number of greedy, unprincipled people in the world. Yes, many rich people break laws knowingly out of a sense of entitlement and avarice. No, the law enforcement community cannot catch all lawbreakers. However, the investing community, of which we are all members, would do well to celebrate small victories, even if we are suspicious of the motivations of law enforcement. The possible should not become a sacrifice on the altar of the perfect.

We live in an imperfect world. America is great because we aspire to live in a society ruled by law, not by privilege; not because we have achieved that happy state.

I invest, purchase stocks, buy bonds, essentially lending cash that I have earned through years of hard work. I do so because I believe that I will benefit from the value added produced by the companies or government entities that I invest in. I and millions of other small investors will cease to play the game if we believe that it is rigged against an intelligent bet fostered by due diligence and research.

Now I feel safe buying stock today. |o| There are several thousand others who need to come to the table about their insider trading practices. How else do brokers make their money.

get a DUI, and the penalty is worse than bilking b/millions from insider trading and go to Club Fed. Utter nonsense.

That's great that they got this guy. Now, how about all the rest of the crooked slime? Too big to fail?