Galleon Founder Rajaratnam, Others Charged In Insider Case

Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam and five others have been charged in an $20 million insider-trading case, prosecutors said.

According to court documents, Rajaratnam, the founder of the $7 billion Galleon Group and portfolio manager for the Galleon Technology Funds, has been charged with four counts of conspiracy and eight counts of securities fraud.

Others charged criminally in the case include Rajiv Goel, director in strategic investments at Intel Corp.'s (INTC) investment arm; Anil Kumar, a director at global management-consulting firm McKinsey & Co.; Danielle Chiesi and Mark Kurland of New Castle Partners LLC, the one-time equity hedge fund group at Bear Stearns Asset Management Inc.; and Robert Moffat, a senior vice president at International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).

Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, is expected to discuss the case in more detail at a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT Friday.

-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; [e-mail]