[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Raj Rajaratnam will attempt to appeal what prosecutors called the biggest insider trading case in a generation.  The Galleon Group founder, 55, is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence after conviction on 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy.  The verdict was largely based on the FBI's secret recordings of his conversations, which were played to the jury.  One year after his October 2011 conviction, the hedge fund manager will appeal to a panel of three judges on the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, on the grounds that the U.S. government improperly won permission to record his phone conversations.

On 10/25/12, prosecutors and Rajaratnam’s lawyers will get 15 minutes each to make their arguments, according to the court's calendar.  The one-time billionaire, 55, may not have his answer until weeks or even months after the oral arguments, when the panel usually issues a decision.

What We Can Look Forward To

• More the use of wiretaps, which have historically been used in investigations of organized crime groups and drug trafficking

• In November 2010, Rajaratnam lost a bid to suppress the wiretaps as evidence in his trial.  Next month, they will again argue that investigators did not meet the requirements under Title III, a federal statute that governs the use of wiretaps.

• Argument by Rajaratnam’s lawyers that when the FBI applied to a federal judge to tap his cell phone in March 2008, the affidavit did not provide the judge with all of the information required for approval under the law.

• The previously omitted fact that a government informant, Roomy Khan, had been convicted of wire fraud in the late 1990s after providing Rajaratnam with inside information.

The cases: USA v Raj Rajaratnam, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals No. 11-4416; and USA v Rajaratnam in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York No. 09-01184.

For further details, go to [Reuters, 9/7/12].