White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Team member Jonathan B. New commented on the sentencing of Zvi Goffer, one of hedge-fund titan Raj Rajaratnam’s former traders, in the New York Post (“Raj, is that sweat? Hedge fund titan likely facing 20 years”) on September 22, 2011.
Goffer was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison— “the exact low end asked for by prosecutors,” according to the Post.
Yesterday’s ruling will send a “strong signal” when it comes to Rajaratnam’s pending punishment, said New. “It would be highly unlikely that Rajaratnam would get less,” he said.
“More than a dozen of the 54 traders, executives and consultants caught up in the widespread insider-trading probe have been sentenced since the first round of arrests were made in 2009,” the article states. Goffer was the first of the group, however, who would not plead guilty. His case was taken to trial where prosecutors asked that he be put away for between 10 and 13 years.
The lower end of the range still means 20 years for Rajaratnam.