Undercover Audio Reveals Rajaratnam's Frantic Calls After Goldman-Buffett Tip
Fund manager Raj Rajaratnam made $1 million in two minutes of frantic calls after receiving an inside tip about a big investment in Goldman Sachs at the height of the financial crisis, prosecutors said this week at the Galleon founder's insider trading trial.
In the biggest Wall Street insider trading case since the 1980s, U.S. prosecutors have persistently pressed phone tap evidence that Rajaratnam had a direct line to his friend and then Goldman Sachs director, Rajat Gupta, who leaked bank secrets to him. The trial is in its fourth week and could last until the end of April.
On Wednesday, the Manhattan federal court jury heard another FBI phone tap to support government allegations Rajaratnam knew a day before it was announced in September 2008 that Goldman would receive a $5 billion investment from Warren Buffett'sBerkshire Hathaway.
In the phone tap of a call on Sept. 24, 2008, between Rajaratnam and his personal Galleon trader, Ian Horowitz, he is heard describing his efforts the previous day to buy shares two minutes before the 4 p.m. stock market close.
"I got a call at 3:58, right?" Rajaratnam said, referring to the September 23 conversation with Gupta about a Goldman board meeting that day. "Saying something good might happen to Goldman, right?"
But when he then called Galleon, the first trader he reached was unable to complete it.
"I, so I told Ananth to buy some, he was fucking around, he can't, you know. So I went to Gary and just buy me, right?"
The full name of trader Ananth was not known and the other person was Gary Rosenbach, then a Galleon manager.
Below, you can listen to the most recent undercover audio recordings played in court this week.
Rajaratnam discussing inside information regarding Goldman Sachs earnings:
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The phone tap of a call on Sept. 24, 2008, between Rajaratnam and Ian Horowitz:
Find more of the revealing Rajaratnam tapes admitted since the trial began later in this story.
Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein Testimony, Plus More Undercover Audio
Jurors in the insider trading trial of hedge fund mogul Raj Rajaratnam heard from one of the biggest names on Wall Street and listened to more juicy undercover tapes this week, as the government's case kicked into high gear. The trial, wrapping up its third week, is expected to last at least another month.