Mr. Rajaratnam and his legal team sure have their work cut out for them. These audio tapes are devastating. They have, as we prosecutors and former prosecutors have often said, "the ring of truth to them". Of course people are going to be nervous about trading on insider information. Remember, for the most part this gang of co-conspirators were law abiding citizens. Indeed, they were highly successful members of the business community. They saw what happened to Martha Stewart. You trade stock around a merger or other material event and those boys from the SEC or worse yet the FBI will come knocking and you better have a good story to tell.
Raj understood that anxiety so he was there with advice and comfort. Coaxing his contacts along, making sure everyone stayed on the reservation. Mr. Dowd, Raj’s defense attorney and his large team of partners and associates and paralegals will have to pull a rabbit out of their hats to rebut this testimony. I sure hope for their sake they received a large retainer, Because in Federal Prison, Mr. Rajaratnam will be making far less than minimum wage.
But it ain’t over till the fat lady sings — plenty more tapes — witnesses and then the defense. Stay tuned, although highly unlikely, I think Raj takes the stand. He’ll have no other choice.