Guardian – Lawyers defending the hedge fund manager in the biggest US insider-dealing trial in decades have laid into the US government’s star witness, branding him a money launderer and tax dodger who cut a plea deal to avoid criminal charges.
Former McKinsey consultant Anil Kumar has been testifying against Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon hedge fund billionaire, before a New York jury. Backed by covertly taped phone conversations, Kumar has detailed illegal inside tips he fed Rajaratnam. In exchange he got $3m in fees, some banked in offshore accounts. Kumar pleaded guilty last year, has returned the money, and is testifying in the hope of a lighter sentence.
