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Galleon's Rajaratnam Retains New Lawyer In Criminal Case

By Chad Bray, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Raj Rajaratnam, who has been accused of being at the center of a $20 million insider-trading scheme, has switched lawyers in his criminal case.

Rajaratnam, founder of hedge-fund firm Galleon Group, has retained John M. Dowd of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington, D.C., confirmed Jim Walden, who had represented Rajaratnam since his arrest earlier this month.

"Mr. Rajaratnam has retained John Dowd of Akin Gump to represent him going forward, and we are pleased he will continue to get great legal representation," said Walden, co-chair of the White Collar Defense & Investigations Group at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP in New York in a statement Monday. "We've laid a strong foundation for Mr. Rajaratnam's defense and will work to make sure his defense may continue without missing a step in fighting these charges to clear his name."

Dowd didn't immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday.

A person familiar Rajaratnam's decision to change counsel said, "Mr. Rajaratnam is pleased with the initial legal work done by Gibson Dunn and has determined Akin Gump should lead the defense effort going forward."

Rajaratnam is one of six people who were charged criminally earlier this month by prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan in a $20 million insider-trading case.

Dowd, a former federal prosecutor, led the investigation by Major League Baseball into gambling by Pete Rose, baseball's all-time hits leader.

He defended Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the Keating Five scandal and served as defense counsel to Fife Symington in a high-profile fraud case, which led to Symington's resignation as Arizona's governor. Symington was pardoned by President Clinton in 2001.

Most recently, Dowd served as counsel to Monica Goodling, a one-time high- level aide to former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, in a congressional probe into the firing of eight federal prosecutors following President George W. Bush's reelection in 2004.

-By Chad Bray, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-227-2017; chad.bray@dowjones.com

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  10-26-091811ET
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