One of the government’s key witnesses in its insider-trading case against Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam walked out of federal court a free man Wednesday.
Tom Hardin, 37, who has been out on bail since he pleaded guilty in 2009, helped Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara nail convictions in more than two dozen cases of insider trading, the government said.
The former investment analyst’s cooperation was “substantial, exceptional and effective,” Judge Laura Taylor Swain said at a hearing on Wednesday, as she sentenced him to time served.
Hardin must forfeit $46,743 — the proceeds of insider trading in such stock as Google and Hilton Hotels — and pay a $200 fine.
Hardin was first approached in 2008 and immediately admitted his crimes and offered to help the feds.
Hardin wore a wire, gathering evidence and recording phone calls with suspects. Those actions put him in “great peril,” his lawyer said at the hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Hardin, a slight, wiry man, told Judge Swain that his behavior had been “reckless and inexcusable” and that he was “incredibly humbled and shamed” by the crimes he committed.
“I am a different man than I was six years ago,” he said.
The Wharton graduate, a 32-year-old investment analyst at Lanexa — a hedge fund investment adviser — when he agreed to help the government, has been stripped of his securities license and been unable to find work, he said.
He has become a stay-at-home dad, taking care of his two daughters, ages 5 and 3. His wife, who supports the family financially, sat behind him in the courtroom. Hardin leaned across the courtroom bar to embrace her after the sentence came down.