Raj Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund company, goes on trial in New York on Tuesday, accused of participating in one of the largest insider trading cases in years. Those accused of passing on information to Rajaratnam include a former senior vice president of IBM and a former board member at Procter & Gamble. That makes this case different from typical insider trading cases, which tend to involve mid- or low-level employees at companies, says securities lawyer Thomas Ajamie. “This is one of the very few times that I can remember where you’ve had such senior supposed pillars of the community, if you will, involved in insider trading cases,” Ajamie says.
