NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed two securities fraud counts against Rengan Rajaratnam, the younger brother of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, a surprise development in the federal criminal insider trading case.
Rajaratnam still faces a criminal count of conspiracy, but U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald at a hearing in Manhattan dismissed other counts related to alleged improper trading in technology company Clearwire Corp.
She said a reasonable jury could not find that Rengan Rajaratnam knew that information he received about Clearwire may have been provided in breach of the alleged tipper's duty to keep it secret for a personal benefit.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)