Now Tipper X in Rajaratnam case; bail bid turned down

I / New York January 13, 2010, 11:32 IST

A hedge fund manager called 'Tipper X' in the insider-trading case involving hedge fund Galleon Group founder and billionaire Raj Rajaratnam could lead prosecutors to implicate more people in the case, a media report has said.

Meanwhile, US District Judge Richard Howell turned down Rajaratnam’s bid for a reduction of his $100 million bail. The accused, who is free, asked last month, that the amount be reduced to $20 million. The prosecutors fear that Rajaratnam will try and flee to Sri Lanka and asked that he be jailed before trial but the Judge turned down this request.

The report by the Wall Street Journal said that this Tipper X is Thomas Hardin, a 32-year-old trader at hedge fund Lanexa Global Management. Hardin, who also traded on inside information, is one of the three witnesses, whose names have been provided to the defendants in the case.

The New York Times reported that Hardin traded on inside information while at Lanexa and passed information to, Gautham Shankar, a former trader at the Schottenfeld Group who has already been implicated in this case.

The daily reported that Hardin alleged wrongful trades involved the pending takeover of Hilton Hotels and and Kronos Inc, a Massachusetts software company.

In October, Rajaratnam received 13 charges, four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of security fraud. Galleon Group is a hedge fund with up to $7 billion in assets under management. This is the first case to use authorised wiretaps and the investigators are still on the job.

Since then the case has grown to involve 21 people. Out of 21 charged in the case, seven have pleaded guilty are cooperating with the authorities making the case against Rajaratnam stronger.

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