Hedge fund hog Raj Rajaratnam, whose billion-dollar business imploded after he was charged with insider trading, was accused Thursday of bankrolling terrorists in his native Sri Lanka.Rajaratnam was hit with a lawsuit while he was in Manhattan federal court, putting up his swanky Sutton Place pad as collateral for his $100 million bond.
He refused to speak with reporters and his lawyer later issued a statement denying he was in cahoots with terrorists.
"Mr. Rajaratnam has the greatest sympathy for all victims of violence in Sri Lanka and has a long history of helping Sri Lankans of all ethnic groups," said attorney Jim Walden.In a 90-plus page complaint, 30 survivors of Tamil Tiger bombing attacks claimed that Rajaratnam and his father funnelled more than $5 million to a charity that was really a front for the terror group from 2001 to 2007.
"The defendants, we allege, have the plaintiffs' blood on their hands," said Michael Elsner, a South Carolina-based lawyer who filed the suit in Newark federal court.
The State Department has designated the Tigers a terrorist organization.
The Sri Lankan government, which recently claimed victory over the Tigers, has also accused the New York-based moneyman of funding the terrorist group.
The lawsuit was filed under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which allows foreigners to sue in U.S. courts for violations of "the law of nations."
For more than 40 years, the Tigers waged a bloody war in a failed bid to created a separate Tamil state in northern Sri Lanka. The group was notorious for recruiting child soldiers and launching suicide bomb attacks.
Rajaratnam, 52, was arrested last Friday and charged with masterminding a $20 million insider trading racket. He denies any wrongdoing.
But after his arrest, the porky plutocrat pulled the plug on his hedge fund, the Galleon Group, which managed $3.7 billion at its height.
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