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Raj Rajaratnam Should Not Have Trusted the Fortune Teller

Convicted inside trader Raj Rajaratnam, who received a record eleven-year prison sentence after refusing to plead guilty or wear a wire, does plead ignorance (again) in this week’s issue of Newsweek, while also attempting to parse the cultural tensions in the case between Indians, Americans, and Sri Lankans. “In Sri Lanka I would have given the judge 50,000 rupees and he’d be sitting having dinner at my house,” Rajaratnam said. “Here, I got my shot. The American justice system is by and large fair.” What it’s not is easily predictable, which Rajaratnam found out after opting to listen to an astrologist who said he would get off, according to a friend:

But the psychic doesn’t even seem to have been particularly accurate about basic details, or otherwise used widely available defining details:

Is his name Vijay?”

No.”

Is his name Karun?”

No.”

Is his name Raj?”

Yes.”

Then the correct ola leaf was picked out by the astrologer and Rajaratnam’s fortune read. The astrologer chanted into a tape for 45 minutes. The recording said there was a government case against Raj, that he was in the stock business, that he was world-known. That he had to close his business down.

Not to undermine ancient traditions, but it sounds like this particular reader followed the news. Oops!

The Outsider [Newsweek]

Raj Rajaratnam Should Not Have Trusted the Fortune Teller