It was the perfect ending for former hedge-fund trader Rengan Rajaratnam — not so much for Manhattan federal prosecutor Preet Bharara.
A federal court jury on Tuesday acquitted the 43-year-old Wall Street veteran of insider trading, breaking Bharara’s perfect record of 85 straight convictions over five years.
The crusading Bharra has made his massive insider-trading probe a cornerstone of his tenure as federal prosecutor and has won guilty verdicts — either at trial or by pleads — for everyone from low-level middlemen to Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital, perhaps the most successful hedge fund ever.
Rajaratnam, who was living in Brazil at the time he was indicted, sat stoically while the jury read the verdict — but then hugged his lawyers after he was exonerated.
“You can go back to Brazil for the finals,” Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald said, referring to soccer’s World Cup.
“Absolutely,” Rajaratnam said, just hours before Brazil would get destroyed by Germany in the semifinals.
Buchwald dealt a major blow to Bharara’s case when she dismissed — midtrial — two of the more serious charges against Rajaratnam.
His name finally cleared after four hours of deliberation on the one remaining charge — conspiracy to engage in insider trading — Rajaratnam left the courthouse and stepped into a waiting black Town Car without making a comment.
David Gitner, Rajaratnam’s lawyer, said his client was looking forward to “getting on with his life.”
“Today is the day Rengan has been waiting for,” Gitner said.
Gitner, at his client’s side as they were about to ride away from the Downtown court house, touched his right hand to his forehead — as if giving a military salute — before getting into the same car and speeding off.
“While we are disappointed with the verdict on the sole count that the jury was permitted to consider, we respect the jury trial system whatever the outcome, and we thank the jury for their service,” Bharara said in a statement, promising to “continue to seek justice in the [ongoing] investigation.”
Rajaratnam is the younger brother of Raj Rajaratnam, who was convicted of insider trading in 2011 and is now serving an 11-year prison sentence.
The loss seems to highlight some cracks in Bharara’s tack during the trials — proving that defendants knew the person leaking the insider information did so for profits.
Bharara’s legal eagles have argued before juries that defendants need only to have known that the leaked info was proprietary.
Two convictions are on appeal, arguing the more strict definition — and appeals court judges have taken a keen interest in the argument.
Rajaratnam still faces civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission on the same and additional counts of insider trading.
— Additional reporting by Rich Calder