Galleon ‘players’ want two trials
They used to be pals, but now they want nothing to do with one another.
Once-chummy business associates and alleged insider-trading pals Raj Rajaratnam and Danielle Chiesi appeared in Manhattan federal court yesterday to ask a judge to grant them separate trials, saying their cases barely have anything in common.
“The players aren’t the same, the stocks aren’t the same, the dates are completely different,” said James Keneally, a lawyer for Chiesi, a 44-year-old former beauty queen turned alleged insider-trading conspiracist, in a hearing before Judge Richard Holwell.
Joseph DiBenedetto, a white-collar criminal defense lawyer who has represented Peter Gotti, said it makes sense strategically to try to get separate trials.
“As a defense attorney, you always want to limit the amount of evidence that comes in.” Otherwise, “you leave room for a jury to confuse the issues and confuse the evidence.”
It was the first time that the two former traders, who stand accused by the Manhattan US Attorney’s office of illegally trading on confidential information, appeared in court together in months.
Rajaratnam, founder of hedge fund Galleon Group, and Chiesi, who worked for hedge fund New Castle Partners, are at the center of a case that has ensnared some 20 people, including high-level executives of companies like IBM and McKinsey.
Like a couple seeking divorce, the duo exchanged civil pleasantries before leaving the morning hearing but otherwise kept their distance in the courtroom, sitting on opposite ends of a row of chairs behind the defense table.
Judge Holwell didn’t say when he might rule on the request by the defendants, but he said he’s torn as to whether to grant them a litigation divorce.
“I’m frankly undecided as to whether to sever the two defendants,” he said.
The defense also asked for more information about specific trades, and requested Holwell agree to strike 21 stocks added to one of the counts against Rajaratnam in March.
Holwell warned that once these thorny issues are sorted out the trial could be scheduled to begin as soon as the later part of August.