Hedge fund billionaire gets 11 years for insider trading

Hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam has received the longest ever prision sentence for insider trading after he was jailed for 11 years in a landmark ruling in the US today.

Judge Richard J. Holwell sentenced Rajaratnam, a hedge fund tycoon who managed the Galleon Group hedge fund, in a ruling being described as a ‘watershed moment' in the US government's attempts to clean up Wall Street. The sentence comes after Rajaratnam, whose hedge fund grew to $7bn in size at its peak, was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy by a jury in May after a two-month trial. Rajaratnam was found guilty of exchanging illegal stock tips about companies including Goldman Sachs and Google with corporate insiders and fellow traders. The US government had placed Rajara...