New York: Raj Rajaratnam, the Galleon Group LLC founder, asked a federal judge to deny a Securities and Exchange Commission bid to add new allegations to its insider trading lawsuit against him.
The regulator's January 20 request should be rejected because the SEC had ample time to find and reveal new evidence before a court-imposed December 15 deadline for amending the claims, Rajaratnam's attorney, John Dowd, wrote in a legal brief filed Friday in federal court in Manhattan. Letting the agency do so now would be "highly prejudicial" to the defence, Dowd said.
"The SEC had plenty of time and opportunity to investigate prior to filing its original complaint," Dowd wrote. "Although the SEC asserts that the case is still at an ‘early stage,' that is simply not the case. There are many important case deadlines fast approaching."
The case, pending before US District Judge Jed Rakoff, is scheduled to go to trial on August 2. In the complaint, originally filed on October 16, Rajaratnam is accused of using inside information to earn more than $25 million (Dh91.8 million). The new complaint raises that figure to about $45 million. Rajaratnam, 52, has denied wrongdoing.
