Government Blitzkriegs Rajaratnam Early In Insider Trading Trial With Testimony From AMD Tipster

There is a theory among trial attorneys drawing from a theory in psychology known as “the theory of primacy”. It says that you start a trial with your strongest evidence to try to sway jurors early to the merits of your position. If successful, from there forward jurors will have to be dissuaded from their early decision in your favor. It makes common sense. Think about first impressions. You meet someone you gauge them, coming to conclusions about them. Accurate or not, those early determinations are hard to shake. Well the government presented some darned strong evidence against Raj Rajaratnam yesterday, the billionaire founder of Galleon Group Inc, accused of securities fraud and conspiracy. Anil Kumar, an ex Wharton classmate of Rajaatnam and McKinsey employee told the jury, “Rajaratnam kept asking me for information and I felt I owed him something given how much money he was paying me. Last year Kumar pleaded guilty to receiving $1 million to provide confidential information. He told Rajaratnam about an acquisition of ATI Technologies by AMD and prosecutors say Rajaratnam made $19 million in illegal profits from the tip. Rajaratnam’s attorney John Dowd says and will argue that Kumar had hidden from McKinsey the money he got from Rajaratnam and that Kumar was guilty of tax evasion. I am not sure how this would be relevant to the jury given what they’ve heard about the benefit to Rajaratnam but we should take a wait and see attitude. The trial is expected to last about two months and sometimes the pendulum of the jury decision swings back if the government’s case isn’t based on a strong enough foundation. So far, Rajaratnam would seem to have a tough road ahead. Certainly former Goldman Sachs Board Member Rajat Gupta, and Barai Capital Management’s Sam Barai and a host of other hedge fund players, charged with securities fraud and conspiracy, are hoping that Rajaranam’s lawyer has a rabbit to pull out of his hat. If Rajaratnam can escape prosecution their troubles lessen somewhat. So far, I wouldn’t count on it based on yesterday’s blitzkrieg number one and the theory of primacy