Eighth accused pleads guilty in Rajaratnam case

I / New York January 30, 2010, 15:18 IST

A former executive of New Castle hedge fund has pleaded guilty to an insider trading scam, one of the the largest in US history, in which Sri Lankan billionaire Raj Rajaratnam is alleged to be the ringleader.

Mark Kurland has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and securities fraud and faces a maximum possible prison sentence of 20 years in a New York federal court.

Kurland admitted to trading on confidential information with Akami Technologies, Sun Microsystems and AMD, making him the eighth person to plead guilty in the case.

Another accused from New Castle, Danielle Cheisi, however, has maintained her innocence.

Multi-billionaire and Galleon Group founder Rajaratnam, 52, was charged in the case in October. He received 13 charges, four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of security fraud.

Galleon Group is a hedge fund with up to USD seven billion in assets under management.

Out of illegal profits, Rajaratnam alone made USD 36 million from inside information, which is double the amount originally calculated.

This is the first case to use authorised wiretaps and the investigators are still on the job.

In December, Rajaratnman pleaded not guilty to all charges in the insider trading scandal that involves $52 million.

"People will probably ask just how pervasive is insider trading these days? Is this just the tip of the iceberg?" US Attorney Preet Bharara had said earlier.

Since then the case has grown to involve 21 people.