Rajaratnam begins 11-year sentence at Massachusetts prison

NEW YORK: Raj Rajaratnam, the one time billionaire hedge fund founder convicted in the biggest insider trading case in the US, has reported to a federal prison in Massachusetts to begin his 11-year sentence, the longest jail term ever given for the crime.
The 54-year-old Sri Lankan native will serve his prison sentence in Federal Medical Centre Devens in Massachusetts.

He arrived at the prison for men yesterday afternoon. A report said it was expected that Rajaratnam would serve his sentence at Devens, which houses those prisoners in need of long-term medical or mental health care.

Rajaratnam is a diabetic and could require kidney transplant in the future.

If his kidney transplant happens while he is in prison, the procedure and related treatment expenses of thousands of dollars would have to be borne by the taxpayers since he would not be allowed to pay for it himself.

He had sought a delay in his prison sentence till he appealed his conviction but a judge had denied that request.

He had asked for leniency in the prison sentence citing health problems, including diabetes and high blood pressure.

Rajaratnam was found guilty in May of 14 counts of conspiracy and fraud, in the one the biggest insider trading scams in US history.

Prosecutors had called Rajaratnam the modern face of insider trading as he made millions of dollars in profits through confidential information passed on to him by his associates in friends in high places including former McKinsey head Rajat Gupta.

In the criminal case against Rajaratnam, he was ordered to pay more than $ 53.8 million in forfeiture of illicit gains and $ 10 million in criminal fines. The total amount of monetary sanctions imposed on Rajaratnam in the civil and criminal cases now stands at more than $ 156.6 million.