One Way To Defend An Insider Trading Charge: Blast The Government’s Witness

Yesterday, John Dowd, the lawyer for the hedge fund billionaire charged with insider trading, Raj Rajaratnam, filed a document in court seeking to have bond reduced from $100 million to $25 million. But the interesting thing there was what Dowd wrote about the government’s evidence – and about the person who apparently is its key witness. He already is setting the stage for Rajaratnam's defense. Take a look: 

“Moreover, the strength of the Government’s evidence, which relies heavily on a single cooperating witness widely reported to be Roomy Khan, has been assailed in a series of recent articles published in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Investigative journalists have reported that Ms. Khan not only is a convicted felon, but also was adjudicated by a court in August 2009 to have fabricated evidence for a court proceeding. See Alex Berenson, “Financial Woes Plagued Galleon Informant,” New York Times (Oct. 22, 2009); Don Clark, “Alleged Informant Had History of Helping Galleon,” Wall Street Journal (Oct. 23, 2009). None of those facts were disclosed to the Court in the Government’s criminal complaints, facts which certainly would have called into question the strength of the Government’s case at the initial presentment. Mr. Rajaratnam is confident that, when all the relevant facts come to light, he will be exonerated. Far from intending to flee, Mr. Rajaratnam looks forward to defending himself and correcting the mistaken and unwarranted allegations against him.”
 
This is just heating up, and with a billionaire on one side and the federal government on the other, there will definitely be a lot of fireworks.