Since they began deliberations last week, jurors in the trial of Raj Rajaratnam have asked to listen to secretly recorded conversations between the money manager and suspected tipsters, the evidence that is at the centre of the government?s insider trading case.
On Thursday, the jurors focused for the first time on Danielle Chiesi, a hedge fund consultant who pleaded guilty early this year to swapping confidential information with Rajaratnam, the head of the Galleon Group hedge fund. Chiesi, however, did not testify against Rajaratnam, leaving jurors with only the tapes. In the six tapes that jurors requested to hear again on Thursday, Chiesi emerges as a sassy and colourful character.
In the calls, Chiesi refers to Rajaratnam and another suspected source as ?baby,? and signs off with ?I love you.? She favours expletives and long-winded explanations and at times even seems to flirt with Rajaratnam and Kieran Taylor, a former Akamai executive who prosecutors have said passed her inside information about his company. During the trial, certain portions of Chiesi?s calls with Taylor were so potentially offensive that the judge had them edited. In one call, Taylor tells Chiesi, ?I have a major present for you.? When she presses him about what kind of gift it is, he tells her it is information.
In some tapes, she discusses her fear of being investigated for suspicious purchases of stocks.
?Do you think in this environment, I know everybody?s being investigated, do you think I could buy it here, honestly?? she asks Rajaratnam in one call heard by jurors. ?And I?m glad that we talk on a secure line,? she adds, ?I appreciate that.?
?Right,? Rajaratnam responds. ?I never call you on my cellphone.? Aside from the brief appearance to review the tapes, jurors deliberated for most of the day.