Rajaratnam gets 11-yr jail term

Calling him “the modern face of illegal insider trading,” prosecutors accused Rajaratnam of using a corrupt network of well-placed tipsters — including former executives of Intel,IBM and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company — to illicitly gain about $64 million.

As Judge Holwell read his sentence in a packed courtroom,Rajaratnam stood stone-faced. His wife,who did not attend any of the trial proceedings,also showed no emotion. Their three daughters did not attend the sentencing.

Rajaratnam,54,who did not testify during his trial,did not speak in the courtroom. The 11-year sentence was significantly lower than the range of roughly 19 to 24 years requested by the government. Judge Holwell cited Rajaratnam’s charitable works and his medical problems as reasons to give him a lower sentence than what prosecutors had requested.

Defence lawyers requested that their client to be sent to the Federal Medical Center in Butner,part of the federal prison complex where Bernard L Madoff is serving 150 years for cheating investors.

Rajaratnam’s historic prison sentence continues a trend of ever-stiffer penalties against white-collar criminals. Legal experts say that the increased prison terms are in part a result of federal sentencing guidelines,passed in 1987,which link the length of a sentence to the dollar amount involved in the fraud.

Corporate wrongdoers have received record-long sentences in recent years. In addition to Madoff,Lee B Farkas,a former mortgage company executive,received 30 years for his role in a $2.9 billion bank-fraud scheme. Last month,Adley H Abdulwahab,who was convicted of participating in a $100 million fraud scheme that preyed on retirees,was sentenced to 60 years in prison.

On the insider-trading front,judges’ penalties have also been severe. Zvi Goffer,a former trader at Galleon,received a 10-year prison term,matching the longest sentence previously for insider trading. PETER LATTMAN