US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara[pictured], has been shaking up the system since being sworn in less than two weeks ago. On Friday, Bharara brought charges of insider trading against Sri Lankan billionaire Raj Rajarathnam and Indian-Americans Anil Kumar and Rajiv Goel. Rajarathnam is the founder of the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund, and is ranked 551 on Forbes's list of the richest men in America, with an estimated net worth of $1.3 billion.

Bharara, the Indian born American who graduated from Harvard and Columbia law schools, has been praised for his non-partisan approach in the 2006 investigation of the Bush administration's political vendetta in the US Justice Department. Speaking at a press conference, Bharara warned that the Department of Justice was stepping up its efforts against white collar crimes, and said that the Galleon case should serve as a "wake up call to Wall Street and to every hedge fund manager."

Although the case has been receiving a lot of media attention as a war between 'desis', there are several other Americans implicated in the $20 million scam. Mark Kurland, the president of New Castle Partners, another large hedge fund, Danielle Chiesi, a former Bear Stearns executive who now works at New Castle; and Robert Moffatt, an executive at IBM. were also arrested and arraigned by the Manhattan Federal Court.

Rajiv Goel, an executive at Intel Capital and Anil Kumar, an executive at McKinsey & Company have been accused of providing Rajarathnam insider information on Intel and AMD. Rajaratnam has been charged with four counts of conspiracy and nine counts of securities fraud. United States Magistrate Judge Douglas F. Eaton set bail at $100 million, despite the prosecution's objection that Rajarathnam posed a flight risk.

Rajarathnam, who is pleading not guilty, is being represented by Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Partner Jim Walden. Walden is the co-chair of Gibson Dunn's White Collar Defense & Investigations Group.