New date of 27 September for Rajaratnam sentencing

NEW YORK (Reuters):  Convicted Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam will be sentenced on 27 September, a federal judge ordered on Thursday, postponing the proceeding from 29 July in the biggest insider trading case of a generation.

Rajaratnam, 53, faces up to 25 years in prison. A Manhattan federal court jury convicted Rajaratnam on 11 May on all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud with which he was charged in a sweeping case marked by the use of extensive FBI wiretaps for the first time in a white-collar criminal investigation.

              

Prosecutors arrested Sri Lankan-born Rajaratnam in October 2009, among more than two dozen charged in what prosecutors called the biggest probe of insider trading at hedge funds on record.

The change in the sentencing date to 27 September from 29 July was agreed by the office of the Manhattan Attorney and Rajaratnam’s lawyers, according to an order signed by presiding District Judge Richard Holwell.

The case is USA v Raj Rajaratnam et al, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 09-01184.