Private company
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American hedge fund caught insider trading (1997–2009)
The Galleon Group was one of the largest hedge fund management firms in the world, managing over $7 billion, before closing in October 2009. The firm was the epicenter of a 2009 insider trading scandal which subsequently led to its fall. The firm was founded by Ari Arjavalingam, Gary Rosenbach, Krishen Sud, and Raj Rajaratnam, a former equity research analyst and eventual president of Needham & Company, in 1997.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
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The Galleon Group was one of the largest hedge fund management firms in the world, managing over $7 billion, before closing in October 2009. The firm was the epicenter of a 2009 insider trading scandal which subsequently led to its fall.2
Founded by Raj Rajaratnam in 1997.1
While working for Needham & Company, Rajaratnam started a hedge fund at the company's request—the Needham Emerging Growth Partnership—in March 1992. He later bought and renamed it Galleon. The fund primarily invested in technology and healthcare companies and quickly increased in value, eventually peaking at $7 billion in 2008.
From Wikipedia’s article on Galleon Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
Who has led Galleon Group, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.
Listed on Wikidata.1
In October 2009 Rajaratnam and five others were arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud and insider trading. Rajaratnam pleaded not guilty and remained free on $100 million bail, the largest in United States history. He was indicted by a grand jury in December 2009 and found guilty in U.S. District Court on 14 charges in May 2011. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell to 11 years in prison on October 13, 2011.
Other former and current traders at Galleon were subsequently arrested and charged with contributing to the alleged conspiracy. Several former employees of the firm cooperated in the investigation. As of January 2012 over 50 people had been convicted or pleaded guilty in the sprawling probe stemming from Galleon (not all of them Galleon employees).
Zvi Goffer, a former Galleon trader, was found guilty of all 14 counts of conspiracy and securities fraud against him and sentenced by Judge Sullivan "to 10 years in prison for his role in a scheme to trade on inside information provided by lawyers". Goffer had asked for a lenient sentence and prosecutors had recommended more than 10 years.
Adam Smith, a former Galleon trader, pleaded guilty and cooperated in the criminal trial of Raj Rajaratnam. He was sentenced in June 2012 to only a period of probation and no jail time by Judge Jed Rakoff, who took over the case from Judge Richard Holwell when the latter retired from the bench.
David R. Slaine, a former Galleon trader, who had previously been a portfolio manager at the hedge fund Chelsey Capital, and, prior, a trader at Morgan Stanley, was sentenced to three years' probation in January 2012, having provided vital assistance to the government as an FBI informant, since 2007.
Testimony during the trial of illegal inside source Rajat Gupta revealed further detail of how insider trading was pervasive at Galleon. Leon Shaulov, a Senior Portfolio Manager who was left out of one particular insider trading scheme, was livid when he found out – not because the company was breaking the law, but rather because he had been left out, sending internal emails complaining: "Thx for the heads up"; "Not one word from anyone. Thanks very much. All I get is sick dilution."; "What I give vs what I get back is disgusting." Shaulov went on to found Maplelane Capital.
From Wikipedia’s article on Galleon Group, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
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