Rajaratnam Insider Trading Trial Begins Tuesday. Secrets To Flow

The trial of Sri Lanka born billionaire Raj Rajaratnam, accused of insider trading, could face more than 20 years in jail but he is not the only one who is nervous at this point. Details of the flow of confidential information to some of the most influential traders in the hedge fund industry. Just last week, Former Goldman Director Rajat Gupta was charged with passing confidential information to Rajaratnam which yielded nearly $100 million in trades. Rajaratnam, the Galleon Group founder intends on testifying on his own behalf. He is charged with 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy and the government will use conversations it captured on wiretap which the judge has ruled will be allowed in the case. Jury selection is expected to take a few weeks and the case is expected to set the tone for over 25 others charged in the alleged risg of hedge fund traders, company insiders and lawyers. 19 others have pleaded guilty. One cooperating witness is Anil Kumar, a former McKinsey partners and friend of Rajaratnam. He is expected to say that he received $1.75 million over five years in exchange for secret information he obtained about McKinsey clients. The judge in the case is Richard Holwell, 64, who is known to hold to the letter of the law and does not get in the way of trials. He ruled in November that the prosecution could use thousands of wiretapped conversations in the trial but also criticized the prosecution for holding back details of a prior investigation into Rajaratnam to judges who authorized the recordings. The testimony and evidence may reveal the details of wrongdoing by others.