Ex-Ropes & Gray Lawyer Says Pay Jealousy Spurred His Insider Trading Tips
A former Ropes & Gray lawyer said Thursday that he provided tips in an insider trading scheme because he was jealous of Wall Street salaries.
The now disbarred lawyer, 34-year-old Brien Santarlas, testified in the trial of Zvi Goffer, a former trader in the Galleon Group hedge fund founded by Raj Rajaratnam, convicted of all 14 counts in an insider trading trial last week. The Associated Press, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) and Bloomberg have stories on Santarlas’ testimony.
Santarlas testified that he agreed to steal secrets about upcoming mergers from the files of other lawyers at his firm because he wasn’t happy with his pay. “While we were making good money, it seemed like nothing compared to the money on Wall Street,” Santarlas said. He made $25,000 after his first tip.
Santarlas gleaned the information from the computer files of other lawyers at his firm and from watching the printer for documents left behind.
Santarlas and another Ropes & Gray lawyer, Arthur Cutillo, have pleaded guilty in the insider trading case.
