Galleon Trial

NEW YORK, April 21, 2011 (AFP) - The jury in Wall Street's biggest insider trading court case in a generation was due to start deliberating Monday after the conclusion of a seven-week trial.









The defense for Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam completed its case in New York federal court Thursday by saying the government had constructed a "fiction" based on unreliable witnesses.

In his final rebuttal, prosecutor Jonathan Streeter said the evidence was overwhelming that Rajaratnam used a network of board members and other insiders at major companies, including Goldman Sachs and Intel, to get market-moving "information before the public.

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Streeter was due to finish his rebuttal early Monday. Then the judge was to instruct the jury on interpretation of laws against insider trading, with deliberations expected to start immediately after.

Rajaratnam, 53, faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges in a case seen as the biggest assault on alleged insider trading in years.

More than two dozen others have been caught in the Galleon probe, which -- unusually for a financial fraud case -- featured extensive use of telephone wire taps.

The government says Sri Lank