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| other_names =
| citizenship = American<ref name=RRH/>
| alma_mater = {{ubl | [[University of Sussex]] | [[The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania]] }}
| occupation = Hedge fund manager
| spouse =
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'''Rajakumaran Rajaratnam''' (born June 15, 1957) is a Sri Lankan-American former [[hedge fund]] manager and founder of the [[Galleon Group]], a [[New York City|New York]]-based hedge fund management firm.<ref>{{cite news |first= Alex|last= Berenson|title=For Galleon Executive, Swagger in the Spotlight|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/business/02insider.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1|work=The New York Times|date=November 2, 2009|access-date=2009-11-02}}</ref><ref name=forbes236>{{cite news|title=#236 Raj Rajaratnam|url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/54/rich-list-09_Raj-Rajaratnam_RUQ2.html|work=Forbes|access-date=2009-02-19}}</ref> He is also the author of his memoir, ''[[Uneven Justice|Uneven Justice: The Plot to Sink Galleon]].''
In 2008, Raj was listed as the 262nd richest man in the United States, according to the latest [[Forbes 400|Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Financial Times - Rajaratnam: Rich American from Sri Lanka |url=https://www.sundaytimes.lk/080928/FinancialTimes/ft305.html#:~:text=Sri%20Lankan-born%20Raj%20Rajaratnam,%20who%20has%20a%20sizable,latest%20Forbes%20list%20of%20the%20400%20Richest%20Americans. |access-date=2024-03-18 |website=www.sundaytimes.lk}}</ref>
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Rajaratnam was incarcerated at [[Federal Medical Center, Devens]] in [[Ayer, Massachusetts]], an administrative facility housing male offenders requiring specialized or long-term medical or mental health care. Rajaratnam was released to home confinement in his [[Upper East Side|Upper East Side Manhattan]] apartment, located on [[Sutton Place, Manhattan|Sutton Place]], in the summer of 2019.
Rajaratnam being released after 7 1/2 years, published his memoir, ''
==Early life==
Rajaratnam is an ethnic [[Sri Lankan Tamil]] born in [[Colombo]] in what was then the [[Dominion of Ceylon]] (present-day Sri Lanka) to [[J. M. Rajaratnam]], who was the chairman & CEO of the [[Singer Corporation|Singer Sewing Machine Co.]] Sri Lanka in 1970 and the vice president in South Asia.<ref name=DB01>[[Suketu Mehta|Mehta, Suketu]], [http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/23/exclusive-raj-rajaratnam-reveals-why-he-didn-t-take-a-plea.html "The Outsider: In an exclusive interview, Raj Rajaratnam reveals ..."], ''[[The Daily Beast]]'', October 23, 2011; retrieved 2011-10-26.</ref> and mother Rajeshwari, a homemaker.
He attended [[S. Thomas' Preparatory School|S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya]] before his family migrated to
==Career==
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His hedge fund was valued at $3.7 billion in 2009, down from a peak of $7 billion in 2008. According to a 2009 investor letter his $1.2 billion Diversified Fund had a net annualized return of 22.3 percent.<ref name="BLOOM01"/> Rajaratnam has been featured among the elite US money managers in a book called ''The New Investment Superstars.'' Initially, he primarily invested in technology and healthcare companies. He said that his best ideas came from frequent visits with the companies in which he invested and from conversations with executives who invested in his fund.<ref>Lois Peltz, ''The New Investment Superstars'', Wiley, 2001; {{ISBN|978-0-471-40313-5}}</ref>
After Rajaratnam's arrest, Galleon received requests from its investors for the withdrawal of $1.3 billion, which caused the fund to close.<ref name="WSJ">{{cite news|first=Susan|last=Pulliam|author2=Gregory Zuckerman|title=Galleon Clients Abandon Ship|date=October 20, 2009|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB125599945778395523?mod=
==Conviction and imprisonment for insider trading==
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* [[Rajiv Goel]], a midlevel [[Intel]] Capital executive.
* Roomy Khan, previously convicted of wire fraud for providing inside information from her employer, Intel, to Rajaratnam.<ref>USDC NDCA case no. 5:01-cr-20029-JW USA v. Khan</ref>
It was reported that Rajaratnam, Goel, and Kumar were all part of the class of 1983 from
The Sri Lankan stock market fell sharply after Rajaratnam was arrested on insider trading charges in October 2009.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sri Lanka Stocks Fall on Rajaratnam's Fund Redemption Concerns|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aRnQ0VGFEWqk|work=Bloomberg|date=October 20, 2009}}</ref> Sri Lanka's Securities and Exchange Commission is reviewing the active stock trading of Raj Rajaratnam with a view of identifying any insider trading.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=8531|title=Sri Lanka Investigates Rajaratnam|publisher=lankaenews.com|access-date=2010-08-11|archive-date=July 13, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713183905/http://www.lankaenews.com/English/news.php?id=8531|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Rajaratnam was also accused of conspiring to obtain confidential information on the $5 billion purchase by [[Warren Buffett]]'s [[Berkshire Hathaway]] of [[Goldman Sachs]] preferred stock prior to the September 2008 public announcement of that transaction. The ''Wall Street Journal'' reported that a former member of the board of directors of
::Three days before Gupta's arrest, Rajaratnam was reported to have said that the prosecutors had wanted him to wear a wire and tape his conversations with Gupta. "It was Rajaratnam’s understanding that were he to plead guilty and wear a wire, he might be offered a sentence of as little as five years. With good behavior, he could be out in 85 percent of that time," the report continued. Rajaratnam did not — and has not ever, cooperated with federal prosecutors.<ref>[[Suketu Mehta|Mehta, Suketu]], [http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/23/exclusive-raj-rajaratnam-reveals-why-he-didn-t-take-a-plea.html "The Outsider: In an exclusive interview, Raj Rajaratnam reveals ..."], ''[[The Daily Beast]]'', October 23, 2011 10:00 AM EDT. Retrieved 2011-10-26.</ref>
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On May 11, 2011, Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/rajaratnam-found-guilty/?hp|title=Galleon's Rajaratnam Found Guilty|work=The New York Times|date=May 11, 2011|access-date=2011-05-11|first1=Peter|last1=Lattman|first2=Azam |last2=Ahmed}}</ref> On October 13, 2011, Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in prison by Judge Richard Holwell.<ref>{{cite news|last=Bray|first=Chad|title=Rajaratnam Gets 11 Years in Insider-Trading Case|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203914304576627191081876286?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories|access-date=October 13, 2011|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=October 14, 2011|page=A1|author2=Pulliam, Susan}}</ref> To date, this was the longest prison sentence ever handed out for insider trading.<ref name="nytimes1">{{cite news|last=Lattman |first=Peter |url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/rajaratnam-is-sentenced-to-11-years/?google_editors_picks=true|title=Galleon Chief Sentenced to 11-Year Term in Insider Case|publisher=Dealbook.The New York Times|date=October 13, 2011|access-date=October 17, 2011}}</ref> The thirteen other defendants connected to Rajaratnam's case received prison sentences averaging approximately three years each.<ref name="nytimes1"/>
Rajaratnam served the first years of his 11-year sentence in Ayer, Massachusetts.<ref>Jeffrey, Don, [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-12-07/rajat-gupta-lawsuit-dismissal-opposed-by-goldman-investor-1-.html "Rajat Gupta Lawsuit Dismissal Opposed by Goldman Investor"], ''Bloomberg'', December 7, 2011; retrieved 2011-12-18.</ref> His appeal to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] was argued in October 2012 by [[Patricia Millett]], who subsequently became a federal Court of Appeals judge herself on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit]] on December 10, 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/millett-patricia-ann
U.S. District Judge [[Loretta Preska]] in Manhattan on March 3, 2017, rejected Rajaratnam's bid to void much of his insider trading conviction and shorten his 11-year prison sentence, on account of Rajaratnam failing to show his actual innocence on five of the 14 counts on which he was convicted, or that two other counts should be vacated because the main government witness committed perjury. Preska also "rejected Rajaratnam's argument that his trial counsel was ineffective, and denied Rajaratnam's bid to reduce the $53.8 million that he had agreed to forfeit to about $4.3 million."<ref>{{Cite news |date=2017-03-03 |title=Galleon's Rajaratnam loses bid to cut insider trading sentence |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-crime-rajaratnam-idINL2N1GG18F |access-date=2023-02-28}}</ref>
==Contributions to charitable and political organizations==
Rajaratnam alongside other private donors, partnered with the US State Department to fund mine detection dogs for humanitarian demining war-affected areas in Sri Lanka. <ref>{{cite news|title=Corporate And Private Donors Contribute $120,000 Funding Six Mine Detection Dogs For Humanitarian Demining In Sri Lanka|url=http://www.slembassyusa.org/press_releases/winter_2003/US_donors_six_mine_21jan04.html}}</ref>{{better source|date=March 2024}} Rajaratnam was in Sri Lanka when the 2004 Asian Tsunami hit and donated $5 million to for the construction of 400 new homes for the island's various ethnic groups - Sinhalese and Tamils.<ref>{{cite news|title=Wall St villain is hero in tsunami hit village|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/business/wall-st-villain-is-hero-in-tsunami-hit-village/story-EToZxIoDFxEvyXzVokjIaK.html}}</ref>
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The [[Ministry of Justice, Prisons Affairs and Constitutional Reforms|Sri Lankan justice ministry]] has acknowledged and thanked Rajaratnam for the millions of dollars contributed to rehabilitating child soldiers conscripted by the LTTE.<ref>{{cite news|title=Billionaire cleared of funding LTTE|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2009/10/19/billionaire-cleared-of-funding-ltte |website=aljazeera.com |date=2009-10-19}}.</ref> Rajaratnam had pledged a $1 million to rehabilitate former LTTE combatants.<ref name="island.lk">{{cite news |title=Raj Rajaratnam's million dollars – A fine starting point |url=http://www.island.lk/2009/09/27/features1.html}}</ref>
According to the [[Federal Election Commission]], Rajaratnam has made over $118,000 in political contributions in five years.<ref name="abcnewsObamaSupporter">{{cite web|last=Esposito, Richard, Kristin Jones, Anna Schecter and [[Brian Ross (journalist)|Brian Ross]]|title=Raj Rajaratnam Indicted in $20 Million Insider Trading Case|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/raj-rajaratnam-indicted-20-million-insider-trading-case/story?id=8845975|work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]|date=October 16, 2009|access-date=May 12, 2011}}</ref> He contributed to the [[Democratic National Committee]] and various campaigns on behalf of [[Barack Obama]], [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Chuck Schumer]], and [[Bob Menendez]].<ref name="abcnewsObamaSupporter"/>
==Post-prison activities==
Rajaratnam served seven and a half years of an 11-year sentence in prison and was released in the summer of 2019.<ref name="RRH">{{Cite web|url=https://island.lk/raj-rajaratnam-hits-out-at-an-unfair-conviction-in-a-tell-all-book/|title=Raj Rajaratnam hits out at an unfair conviction in a 'tell all' book|accessdate=April 10, 2022|work=[[The Island (Sri Lanka)]]|date=September 19, 2021}}</ref> In December 2021, he published his memoir ''[[Uneven Justice]]'' detailing the events surrounding his conviction and his criticisms of the US [[criminal justice]] system.<ref>John Tammy. "The Tragic and Needless Destruction of Raj Rajaratnam, Price-Giver Extraordinaire." Review of ''Uneven Justice: The Plot to Sink Galleon'' by Raj Rajaratnam. ''Forbes''. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.</ref>
==See also==
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[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil people]]
[[Category:Sri Lankan businesspeople]]
[[Category:Wharton School
[[Category:Alumni of S. Thomas' Preparatory School, Kollupitiya]]
[[Category:Tamil billionaires]]
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