I’m not asking for an iota of sympathy for my incarceration. But there are countless stories of misconduct locking up innocent people. These are our neighbors, and this touches us all.<\/em><\/p>\n Eleven\u00a0years ago, I was convicted by a federal jury\u00a0of insider trading\u00a0and went on to serve 7 1\/2\u00a0years in prison. In 2014, my\u00a0brother and alleged co-conspirator, Rengan Rajaratnam, was\u00a0acquitted by a federal jury\u00a0in the same district, based on the same evidence related to the same charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n Last year,\u00a0the former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Preet Bharara, once featured on the\u00a0cover of Time magazine\u00a0for prosecutions against people like me\u00a0on insider trading, convened an eponymous task force and concluded that\u00a0\u201cfor too long, insider trading law has lacked clarity, generated confusion, and failed to keep up with the times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Bharara\u00a0was joined on his task force by a sitting federal judge who shared the same epiphany about the infirmities of the law, and this was the same judge who imposed an unprecedented\u00a0$93 million penalty\u00a0on me.<\/p>\n I’m not asking for one iota of sympathy, quite the contrary as I could not be happier with my current life and my loved ones, even with the challenges arising from my conviction. But I\u00a0cannot look forward without reflecting on the stories I heard from countless inmates during my incarceration.<\/p>\n\n One common thread connected so many of these stories:\u00a0the complete absence of any consequence for prosecutors who acted in bad faith, from minor indiscretions to major, life-altering corruption. I hope that I can play a small role by bearing witness to and advancing the discussions around criminal justice reform.<\/p>\n There is a growing buzz around this topic and for good reason. Muhammad Aziz and the late Khalil Islam\u00a0\u2013 each of whom served prison time for decades\u00a0\u2013\u00a0were recently\u00a0exonerated\u00a0in the killing of Malcolm X\u00a0in the 1960s. Last March, three New York City men\u00a0\u2013\u00a0George Bell, Rohan Bolt and Gary Johnson\u00a0\u2013 were exonerated after spending more than two decades in prison for a double homicide conviction that came after key evidence was allegedly withheld by the prosecution. The district attorney even sought the death penalty for Bell, but, thankfully, failed at getting it.<\/p>\n\n Texan Michael Morton\u00a0spent nearly 25 years in prison\u00a0after being wrongly convicted of murdering his wife. The prosecution hid exculpatory evidence that would have proved his innocence. Ken Anderson, the prosecutor\u00a0who cost Morton a quarter-century of his freedom, was sentenced to just 10\u00a0days\u00a0for his corruption. Anderson\u2019s sentence was remarkable\u00a0\u2013 not for its brevity\u00a0but because, as of the 2020 publication of an Innocence Project report,\u00a0Anderson was\u00a0the only prosecutor\u00a0to ever be sentenced to any term of incarceration for prosecutorial misconduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n Further, exonerations have been issued in\u00a0nearly 3,000 wrongful\u00a0conviction cases\u00a0in America since 1989. And according to the\u00a0National Registry of Exonerations, more than half of people who were eventually exonerated were put away because of, at least in part, official misconduct.<\/p>\n As of 2018, 98% of federal criminal defendants’ cases did not go to trial, with 90% of defendants being\u00a0pressured to accept plea bargains rather than take the risks and costs associated with defending themselves, according to data from the\u00a0Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n The government has crafted over time an expedient system of lopsided justice that almost always ends with some form of a \u201cvoluntary\u201d confession, an acknowledgment of guilt in exchange for a\u00a0reduced sentence, and a public \u201cvictory\u201d for the prosecution. These convictions allow prosecutors to sweep under the rug the weaknesses in their cases and the failings in their prosecutions.\u00a0<\/p>\n When cases actually go to trial,\u00a0prosecutors have been known\u00a0to ratchet the stakes by training witnesses on exactly what to say on the stand. The cooperating witness offers the prosecution an opportunity for a kind of \u201credemption\u201d that is difficult to take seriously.\u00a0The successful\u00a0testimony of the cooperating witness\u00a0garners\u00a0leniency\u00a0in subsequent sentencing offered to that witness.<\/p>\n\n Indeed, conflicts of interest are implicitly woven into a broken system. And\u00a0all too often, potentially exculpatory evidence\u00a0\u2013 to which only the government enjoys access\u00a0\u2013 is hidden.<\/p>\n POLICING THE USA:A look at race, justice, media<\/p>\n So how do we fix it? In the case of the three exonerated New York men, several law professors have tried to expose the prosecutorial misdeeds that led to the original convictions, and they were\u00a0threatened by the city. They are still fighting for accountability, and we should hope they succeed.<\/p>\n For my part, I am committed to supporting incredible organizations\u00a0\u2013\u00a0such as The Marshall Project, Equal Justice Initiative\u00a0and The Innocence Project\u00a0\u2013 that\u00a0selflessly speak truth to power.<\/p>\n This problem should concern everyone because it\u2019s about all of us: our barbers, our mail delivery people, our neighbors, the thousands of exonerated Americans. We need to be steadfast with dogged persistence to create a justice system that delivers fairly argued decisions rather than questionable or even phony prosecutorial victories.<\/p>\n Raj Rajaratnam is a Sri Lankan-American former hedge fund manager and founder of the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm that managed billions of dollars.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Hedge](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/53449707b035dfa3e92faa287917828a75df8961\/c=0-46-1826-2481\/local\/-\/media\/2016\/10\/12\/Milwaukee\/B9324098049Z.1_20161012193938_000_GTDG169E2.1-0.jpg?width=300&height=401&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")
<\/figure>\nExonerations needed too often\u00a0<\/h2>\n
System\u00a0makes trials too tough\u00a0<\/h2>\n
![\"Raj](\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/02\/09\/USAT\/f5db4e75-4777-43d1-8f5d-85ff590eb6bc-R_RAJARATNAM_JPEG.JPG?crop=361,482,x0,y0&width=300&height=401&format=pjpg&auto=webp\")