[ by Howard Haykin ] "He fought the Law, and the Law won!" Former California hedge fund manager did everything in his power to build a defense against the federal insider trading charges - he even took the stand in his own defense.  After less than a day of deliberations, the federal jury on Monday convicted Doug Whitman of Whitman Capital in Menlo Park, CA - guilty of insider trading. Specifically, Mr. Whitman is guilty of earning about $1 million in illegal profits trading technology stocks, including Google and Polycom, and now he faces a maximum possible sentence of 25 years in prison.  Sentencing is set for 12/20/12.

"Douglas Whitman now joins the grim procession of convicted Wall Street professionals who decided that the rules don't apply to them.  The rules do apply. Over and over again, juries of good, common-sense citizens have said the rules do apply, and they have held defendants like Mr. Whitman accountable for breaking them." -- Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

Of the more than 70 Wall Street traders and corporate executives charged with insider trading by federal prosecutors in Manhattan over the last 3 years, virtually all have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty. Juries in Federal District Court in Manhattan have convicted all 8 defendants who have taken their cases to trial. Mr. Whitman, 54, fought the charges, arguing that all of his trades were made in good faith and grounded in legitimate stock research - similar to the defense used by Raj Rajaratnam, the former hedge fund billionaire.  Mr. Rajaratnam was at the center of an vast insider trading web that ensnared Mr. Whitman. Testimony of Cooperating Witnesses. Prosecutors in Mr. Whitman's case relied on the testimony of several main cooperating witnesses - including Roomy Khan, former trader who also was at the center of Mr. Rajaratnam's trial.  Jurors also heard secretly recorded telephone conversations that prosecutors said showed Mr. Whitman trafficking in confidential information. In a rare tactic for an insider trading defendant, Mr. Whitman took the stand in his own defense. He testified that he never thought his sources possessed any secret information about the stocks that he traded. For further details, go to:  [Dealbook, 8/20/12].