Raj Rajaratnam, Convicted Insider Trader, to Get Kidney Transplant Paid for by Taxpayers

According to CNN Money, Raj Rajaratnam, the man recently sentenced to 11 years for insider trading, may be receiving a kidney transplant, at the taxpayers’ expense. CNN Money estimates “the cost could exceed $300,000 if he’s able to secure a kidney early in his sentence, including the price of the transplant and a decade’s worth of post-operative therapy.”

Raj Rajaratnam, Meet Bernie Madoff

When Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced on October 13 to federal prison for his crimes, “federal Judge Richard Holwell described the former hedge fund manager as a diabetic with ‘imminent kidney failure’ who needs a transplant,” reports CNN Money. By virtue of this ailment, instead of serving his time in a federal prison, Rajaratnam is to be placed in Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina. By odd coincidence, this also happens to be the home of the infamous Bernard Madoff, the Ponzi schemer currently serving a 150-year sentence.

Raj Rajaratnam Insider Trading Charges

Raj Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years after being convicted for insider trading earlier this year. The sentence is the longest in history for insider trading. He was also fined $10 million. The investigation took two years and the trial lasted roughly two months before Rajaratnam was convicted of securities fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors originally sought 19-24 years, but the judge lowered the sentence on the basis of his history of charity works and his medical conditions. Rajaratnam is still being investigated in other insider trading cases, like this one involving the 2009 takeover of Cougar Biotechnology by Johnson & Johnson (JNJ).