"Research is sort of doing your homework ahead of time," Smith, who pleaded guilty to insider trading and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, told jurors. "Getting the number is more like cheating on the test."
Jurors at Rajaratnam's trial heard more than 40 recordings of the Galleon co-founder, made by the FBI, where he chatted and joked with sources while getting information about sales projections and mergers.
"They're gonna guide down," Chiesi told Rajaratnam on July 24, 2008, after she got an insider's leak that Akamai Technologies Inc. would reduce its forecast. "I just got a tip from my guy."
Defense lawyer John Dowd said he would appeal the use of wiretaps, telling the judge the matter was "very substantial."
Rajaratnam's lawyers argued that wiretaps shouldn't be used at the trial because the U.S. failed to disclose key facts about the investigation. Holwell granted prosecutors the right to use about 2,400 recorded conversations between Rajaratnam and more than 130 friends, business associates and alleged accomplices.
Born in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, Rajaratnam was educated there at St. Thomas' Preparatory School before leaving for England, where he studied engineering at the University of Sussex. He came to the U.S. to get his master's of business administration, graduating from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in 1983.
Two of his Wharton classmates -- Anil Kumar, who became a partner at McKinsey & Co., and Rajiv Goel, who was a managing director at Intel -- testified against him at the trial, saying Rajaratnam corrupted their friendships as he sought them out as sources of secret information. Both have pleaded guilty.
Rajaratnam's first job after graduation was at Chase Manhattan Bank, where he was a lending officer in the group that made loans to high-tech companies. In 1985, he joined Needham & Co., a New York-based investment bank that specialized in technology and health-care companies.
He started as an analyst covering the electronics industry and rose through the ranks, becoming head of research in 1987, chief operating officer in 1989 and president in 1991. A year later, at 34, Rajaratnam started a fund, Needham Emerging Growth Partners LP, according to Galleon's marketing documents.
Rajaratnam and Needham colleagues Krishen Sud, Gary Rosenbach and Ari Arjavalingam formed Galleon Group in January 1997. By the end of that year, they were managing $830 million, much of it from technology company executives Rajaratnam had gotten to know throughout his career, according to "The New Investment Superstars."