Every weekday at 8:35 am, Galleon Group’s 70 analysts, portfolio managers and traders pack into a conference room on the 34th floor of the IBM Building, a gray-green polished granite skyscraper on New York’s Madison Avenue. Tardy arrivals are fined $25.

At the head of the table, Chief Executive Officer Raj Rajaratnam fires off questions to the staff of his $3.7 billion hedge fund firm: Which companies' margins are peaking? What would change your mind about this stock? What's the risk of that company failing to win an expected contract? The 52-year-old billionaire expects his analysts to have an edge: better information than anyone else, say people who have attended the meetings.

559th richest person in the world

Rajaratnam's net worth of $1.3 billion makes him the 559th richest person in the world, according to Forbes Magazine, on par with the likes of hedge fund manager Julian Robertson and investor Wilbur Ross. Rajaratnam has invested in at least one New York City restaurant, Opia, in midtown Manhattan, according to people who know him.

Largest hedge fund insider-trader scheme

Billionaire Raj Rajaratnam and executives from some of the most prestigious U.S. companies were charged with the largest hedge fund insider-trading scheme ever.Investigators said they used court-approved telephone wire taps for the first time in a Wall Street insider trading case, sending shivers through the hedge fund industry which has traditionally picked up and shared trading tips to make big profits.

Rajratnam's LTTE links

Rajaratnam, born into a family of well-to-do Tamils in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, is one of the largest investors on the Colombo Stock Exchange. Last month, he pledged $1 million to help pay for the rehabilitation of former soldiers of the separatist "Tamil Tigers," which fought 25 years to create a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils but were defeated in May.