So, it's a rare thing to have a crime in America - a crime of great magnitude, import and newsworthiness - committed by an Indian (South Asian) but rarer still to have the culprit(s) brought down by another Indian. Then add in some key Indian wire-wearing witnesses for the government and it gets even more mind-boggling. In a plot that has not yet been conceived of in any Bollywood film, superstar-already-in-the-making and current US Attorney for the SDNY, Preet Bharara, took the reigns of an investigation into a major insider trading scandal that set its sights on Raj Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon Group.
It was only a matter of time before a scandal so large erupted in America with an Indian person featured prominently as its nexus. I mean, we have eminent doctors and lawyers and engineers and Kal Penn, so it was only a matter of time before we produced criminals that were equally as worthy. And yes, we have found such worthiness in Mr. Rajaratnam.
The thing about Raj (can I call you Raj?) is that he is seemingly not a Shah Rukh Khan kind of guy. He's a rotund man who remains out of the spotlight (until now, haha) whose in-laws live with him and his family. In all respects, from the outside, on a superficial level, he epitomizes Indian success in America while not losing sight of his history. Who would have thought this guy would have the ego to flout the laws in such an obvious and crass manner? I mean, there was no subtlety to the crime. I'll leave Preet to his proofs, but the facts are there and they are not Raj-friendly.
Which brings me to the other players. This net is far-flung, and of course spans more than just Indian people. It's snapping up all sorts of other players whose underlying commonality is that they all should have been too smart to do something so dumb.
And the most interesting crook/player in this network? She (go female power!...j/k) is as shady as they come. From Bloomberg:
Khan, whose last known address is given as a $17.9m home shared with her husband Sakhawat Khan in Atherton, California, is identified by the SEC as 'Tipper A' and referred to in a criminal complaint filed by the Manhattan US attorney's office as 'CW', for cooperating witness.
Ok, so this woman sucks. And she has a criminal history - in 2001 Khan pled guilty in California federal court to charges she leaked tips about Intel, her employer at the time, to an unidentified person at Galleon. Raj claims he did not know about this. How is that even possible?Roomy Khan worked at Galleon briefly in the 1990s
Khan, like the rest of this lot, is a bit of a bad apple.
Besides what court documents show about Khan seeking leniency from prosecutors for her cooperation, she’s also been a defendant in at least two civil cases.The details of the housekeeper suit are here.
In a lawsuit settled last month, a housekeeper for Khan and her husband said they had violated minimum wage laws. The lawsuit was settled after a judge said that Roomy and Sakhawat Khan had fabricated evidence.
In March 2008, the Khans’ maid, Vilma Serralta, 69, sued the couple for denying her “lawful wages,” according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California. In the four years Serralta worked for the Khans as a live- in maid, she was paid between $1,000 and $1,300 a month, for 14- hour days that involved cleaning their 9,000 square-foot house, providing childcare and cooking, according to the complaint. That’s roughly $3 an hour.
Khan and her husband were also sued in 2005 in New York by Deutsche Bank AG, Germany’s biggest bank, for failing to repay a promissory note. They were ordered to pay $103,750, according to a settlement filed in New York Supreme Court.
Clearly, the only crime Raj is guilty of is not doing criminal background checks on his employees...riiight?
Anyway, there are other Indians who worked at Galleon and companies like McKinsey who participated in the insider trading and made a pretty penny from it. But crime doesn't pay - as they are finding out now.
So, what now? Well clearly - make a BOLLYWOOD MOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the following are my suggestions:
For the role of Raj, we will need a rotund Indian actor. Obviously the first person I thought of was Govinda.
And for Preet? Well, there's a number of guys to pick from. I have to admit, though, there are some similarities between him (left) and my old fave, Salman (right):
But, Aamir Khan would also work:
Yum!!
Now, it's not that easy to find a woman out of Bollywood
who could play Roomy Khan. There's a few contenders but they'd have to leave ego aside and get FUGLY!
I'm thinking maybe Urmila?
But I have always believed that Kareena has it within her to bring the FUG:
Can you see what I'm saying?
I can't wait to see Galleon Group set to music, dancing, rain and crying. Would you see it? Who do you want to see star in it?
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