Galleon Group co-founder Raj Rajaratnam is asking a judge to shorten the government’s proposed prison sentence for his involvement in a massive insider trading case.
The government is requesting that Rajaratnam, who was convicted in May on all 14 conspiracy and securities fraud criminal counts against him, be sentenced to between 19 ½ and 24 ½ years in prison.
But according to Bloomberg, 54-year-old Rajaratnam says the punishment is “grotesquely severe.” On Sept. 9, he asked U.S. District Judge Richard Holwell to reduce the proposed sentence so he won’t have to die in prison.
“This court’s role is not to validate a prosecutorial public relations effort, nor is it to single out one man to serve as the whipping boy for Wall Street misdeeds,” Rajartnam said in a court filing.
Rajaratnam asserted in his court filing that his proposed punishment exceeds sentences for criminals convicted of arson, child pornography, kidnapping, robbery and sexual abuse. Many experts note that white-collar criminals are continuously facing stricter punishments comparable to the aforementioned hard criminals.
Rajartnam’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 27.
