Shares of memory chip interface technology developer Rambus (RMBS) are down $2.97, or 15%, at $16.33 after being halted multiple times as news circulated this afternoon that a U.S. appeals court ruled Rambus destroyed evidence in a patent infringement suit.

Dow Jones Newswires’s Shara Tibken writes that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated Rambus’s victory against memory maker Hynix Semiconductor (000660.KS) of Korea, and ordered the trial court to look at whether Rambus destroyed documents in the case.

The court also determined that Rambus had destroyed documents in a suit against Micron Technology (MU). Micron had already won a dismissal of Rambus’s charges because of the latter’s document destruction, but it appears that verdict now is also sent back to the lower courts for review.

Bloomberg’s Susan Decker and William McQuillen this afternoon write that, “If the district court again concludes on remand that there was bad faith and prejudice, the record evidence may indeed justify a dispositive sanction, but the seriousness of such a sanction warrants an analysis of all of the factors discussed,” citing the appeals court statement in the Micron matter.

Reuters’s Diane Bartz quotes the appellate court statement, which said, “It is undisputed that Rambus destroyed between 9,000 and 18,000 pounds of documents in 300 boxes.”

Micron shares are down 23 cents, or 2%, at $10.42.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

Commodity hedge funds upbeat after mauling (FT)
Last week saw the largest daily trading volume in Brent crude’s history as investors – a large proportion of them hedge funds – began to liquidate positions in a stampede to reduce risk. It was a rush to the exits that was seemingly without cause, however. Many fund managers are at a loss to explain what triggered the panic, dismissing the explanations that have been proffered – weak US economic data, a hike in commodities trading costs or even hedging upcoming equity exposure to the giant Glencore listing…But crucially such losses – unattractive though they are – have done little, if anything, to dent managers’ confidence in the long commodities play.

AIG Offering Near Low End of Range (WSJ)
American International Group Inc. and the Treasury decided to move ahead with a stock offering this month for about $9 billion, far less than what officials had once hoped to fetch, people familiar with the decision said…[AIG's board] decided to proceed with plans for an offering near the low end of a range envisioned by people familiar with the plan of $7 billion to $25 billion, depending on investor demand and market conditions.

Banks Float $5 Billion Deal to End Foreclosure Probe (WSJ)
Such an offer is considerably less than the amounts sought by state and federal officials, some of whom are asking for more than $20 billion in penalties. The banks’ figure comes as mortgage companies and state and federal officials continue their efforts to strike a settlement of investigations sparked by allegations of “robo-signing” and other questionable foreclosure practices that came to light last fall.

Preemptive strike against high prices may be needed, Fed official says (WaPo)
The Federal Reserve needs to be prepared to take preemptive action against even the possibility of a surge of higher prices, a senior official of the central bank said Tuesday. Jeffrey M. Lacker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, added in an interview that he doesn’t think the recent rises in the price of fuel and other commodities will spiral into a broader inflation, but he cautioned that the central bank needs to remain vigilant.

Dodd-Frank Dissenters Sound Off (Dealbook)
And Ken Griffin, founder of the $15 billion hedge fund Citadel Investment Group, went the furthest by proclaiming that not only would the legislation not work as proposed, but it is “going to deeply entrench crony capitalism into the very fabric of our financial system, which I am terrified about.”

Ex-Galleon Trader Kimelman Wants Jury Told He Rejected Plea Deal With U.S. (Bloomberg)
Former Galleon Group LLC trader Michael Kimelman said he wants jurors at his upcoming insider- trading trial to be told that he could have avoided jail by admitting guilt and rejected a plea deal because he’s innocent. Kimelman is scheduled for trial on May 16… The government’s offer would have had Kimelman plead guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and “was still available last week,” according to the filing.

FDIC warns on moral hazard for money market funds (Reuters)
[Sheila] Bair, outgoing chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, said regulators needed to be mindful of so-called moral hazard in creating a backstop for the $2.7 trillion industry. During the financial crisis, the federal government was forced to backstop the market after the collapse of Lehman Brothers pushed the value of the Reserve Fund money market fund below $1 a share, wreaking havoc on the industry.

China Inflation Signals More Tightening to Come (Bloomberg)
China’s inflation held above 5 percent in April and lending exceeded analysts’ estimates, signaling that further monetary tightening may be needed to cool the fastest-growing major economy…Today’s data showed that inflation has exceeded Premier Wen Jiabao’s 4 percent target each month this year.

German Inflation Accelerated More Than Estimated (Bloomberg)
The inflation rate, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, jumped to 2.7 percent from 2.3 percent in March, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. That’s an upward revision from the first estimate of 2.6 percent on April 27. From March, consumer prices rose 0.3 percent, more than the 0.2 percent initially reported.

Bank of England cuts growth forecasts (FT)
The Bank’s central forecast now predicts growth of about 2.7 per cent in the four quarters to the end of this year, down from its February forecast of growth of 2.9 per cent, assuming no change in monetary policy. Growth in the year to the end of 2012 is expected to be about 2.8 per cent rather than 3.2 per cent. Inflation is forecast to peak this year at about 5 per cent in the fourth quarter, rather than at about 4.5 per cent. By the end of next year, inflation is expected to reach 2.4 per cent, compared with an earlier forecast of 1.7 per cent.

Greek unions hold new general strike, plan demonstrations, to protest harsh austerity (WaPo)
A 24-hour general strike in Greece Wednesday brought most public services to a halt, while thousands marched through Athens to protest the government’s introduction of harsh austerity measures intended to keep the debt-ridden country solvent. This month, the Socialist government is planning to pass further cutbacks aimed at saving an estimated €23 billion ($33 billion) through 2015.

Google Sets Aside $500 Million for Probe (Bloomberg)
Google set aside $500 million related to the possible resolution of a U.S. Justice Department investigation of its advertising business, resulting in lower first-quarter profit. The expense trimmed net income to $1.8 billion, or $5.51 a share, in the period, Google said yesterday in a regulatory filing.

Stanford Trial Set for September (WSJ)
Jailed money manager R. Allen Stanford will go to trial on wire-fraud and other charges in September, a federal judge in Houston has ruled. Jury selection will begin Sept. 12 in the trial of Mr. Stanford, who has been accused of running a $7 billion fraud, according to an order issued by U.S. District Judge David Hittner in Houston on Tuesday.

‘Mack’ the life (NYP)
Mark Madoff’s widow, Stephanie, filed two name change petitions to distance herself and her children from her husband’s notorious last name. After the couple received numerous threats, Mark gave Stephanie his blessing to change her last name to “Morgan” in February 2010, and since then she’s been called Stephanie Morgan. When the name change request was reported, sources say Morgan filed a second petition to change her family name to “Mack.”

Female peacock escapes from Bronx Zoo, still on the loose on NYC streets (NYDN)
The Bronx Zoo cobra may be back in captivity, but a female peacock is on the loose. Three zoo workers wielding nets made a failed attempt to recapture the green peahen about noon on Tuesday…Zoo workers crawling stealthily through the grass got within a few feet of the feisty fowl before she flew off again. She hasn’t been seen since…”We’ll get her eventually,” vowed Nancy Clum, the zoo’s curator of ornithology.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

A few years back, a hedge fund in Greenwich went out of business. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Was called Amaranth Advisors. Was run by a guy named Nick Maounis. Had this lovable goof of a Canuck named Brian Hunter making natural-gas trades. Brian was always up for a good laugh and one day, on a lark, put on some trades that resulted in the firm losing, I don’t know, like $6.6 billion. It’s was hilarious! Maybe you had to be there, but I’m telling you, it was pant-pissingly funny. Definitely one of the best things to happen to the hedge fund community in a while.

Anyway, Maounis went on to start a new fund called Verition with most of the gang from the old shop, except for Hunter, who did some work for Peak Ridge Capital and also spent the last few years unsuccessfully fighting fighting what he believed was a bum rap re: market manipulation (on good, non-firm-destroying trades).

The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Thursday fined former Amaranth Advisors natural gas trader Brian Hunter $30 million — the highest penalty ever assessed by the agency — for what it said was his manipulation of the natural gas market in 2006. The agency imposed the fine after it agreed with the findings of an FERC administrative law judge, who ruled that Hunter artificially manipulated the closing prices of the NYMEX March, April and May 2006 gas futures contract to benefit offsetting positions he held on the IntercontinentalExchange. Hunter, who has maintained his innocence, was not immediately available for comment and was not at the proceeding.

This is the first time that the federal agency, which oversees the often mundane details of trading and pricing of electricity and natural gas, has taken a market-manipulation case before an administrative judge. In a statement, FERC said it found that “Hunter sold significant numbers of futures contracts” at times when the market was vulnerable to big price swings “with the intent to depress prices and financially benefit his significant derivative positions held on other platforms.” Susan Court, a lawyer who brought the case against Hunter when she led FERC’s Director of Enforcement and is now in private practice, called the
commission’s unanimous approval of the Hunter findings “huge,” adding “that litigation sets a precedent” that negotiated settlements cannot. She said the $30 million fine “will definitely get the attention of natural gas and electricity traders.”

US FERC fines former Amaranth gas trader Brian Hunter $30 million [Platt's]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

TiVo (TIVO) shares are up $2.86, or 34%, at $11.23, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled Dish Network (DISH) was in contempt of a court order last year to shut down the DVR service it provides to subscribers, after a long-running patent infringement suit brought by TiVo.

The court also, however, rejected a ruling that Dish’s software “workaround” was insufficient to avoid infringement.

So who wins in this case?

TiVo said it looked forward to a permanent injunction against Dish, and that the ruling, “paves the way for TiVo to receive substantial damages and contempt sanctions regarding the DVRs that EchoStar and Dish Network failed to disable.”

Dish, whose stock is down 35 cents, or 1.5%, at $23.52, said in a statement it will take its case for continuing its DVR service to the Supreme Court, and said it was pleased its software workaround will get another hearing.

Given that the fight between TiVo and Dish has been going on for years now, with ups and downs for both parties, Sanford Bernstein’s Craig Moffett this afternoon wonders if this is the end of the matter.

Moffett thinks TiVo wins decisively, because the real issue here was not damages from infringement, but rather the prospect Dish would be forced to shut down 4 million to 8 million subscriber boxes. He expects that the potential cost of $3 billion to Dish to do that means Dish will have to pay up to TiVo on TiVo’s terms.

“The only alternative, it would seem, is settlement to sidestep this disablement requirement. And that settlement would presumably be on TiVo’s terms.”

And for TiVo, with a $1.35 billion market cap, anything remotely like $3 billion would be huge. With roughly $10.5 billion in market cap for Dish, a settlement of that kind would be “highly material,” writes Moffett.

Moffett reiterated a Market Perform rating on Dish shares and a $22 price target.

Article courtesy of Tech Trader Daily

JPMorgan, BofA Earnings May Show Weaker Revenue (Bloomberg)
“While loan growth tends to be seasonally weak in the first quarter, this quarter is tracking worse than seasonality would suggest,” Barclays Capital Inc. analysts led by Jason Goldberg wrote in an April 8 report. “We fear companies have been disappointed.” Profits may have increased even with declining revenue as lenders set aside fewer funds to cover loan losses and in some cases released reserves they’ve already built up, said Matt Burnell, a banking analyst at Wells Fargo. Cost reductions may also help the bottom line in a smaller way, Burnell said.

Goldman Sachs Accused by Marvell Founders of Margin Call Fraud (BW)
Sehat Sutardja, Marvell’s chief executive officer, and Weili Dai, the company’s former chief operating officer, said they were duped into selling shares in 2008 that are now worth $141.5 million, according to a complaint filed yesterday in state court in San Francisco. Goldman Sachs pressured them by claiming a regulatory rule, which didn’t exist, required them to sell their stock, according to the complaint.

US Lawmakers Reach Agreement On $38 Billion In Cuts (Bloomberg)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, high-speed rail and law enforcement are among the programs that would get reduced funding as part of a budget deal to avert a government shutdown, according to legislation unveiled this morning that identified specific cuts.

BofA Kept Executives In Dark On Dividends (WSJ)
The March 23 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission was more explicit than an earlier news release. It showed that the Federal Reserve had “objected” to the proposed dividend increase following a “stress test” of all major U.S. financial institutions. Shares of Bank of America, the only bank to disclose the Fed’s outright objection, dropped almost 4% in three days after the filing. But Chief Financial Officer Chuck Noski and Chief Accounting Officer Neil Cotty didn’t see the filing before it went to the SEC, people familiar with the matter said. Head of investor relations, Kevin Stitt, found out late the night before, according to one of these people.

Gupta Says His SEC Suit Should Be Heard In Federal Court (Bloomberg)
…instead of dismissing the complaint as the agency has requested.

Sokol Knew Lubrizol’s Board Would Be Told of Berkshire Interest (Bloomberg)
Sokol knew Dec. 17 that Lubrizol Corp Chief Executive Officer James Hambrick planned to notify his board of directors about Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s possible interest in acquiring the company. Sokol, who had inquired about Lubrizol through Citigroup Inc. bankers, was informed of Hambrick’s intention by the same bankers, according to a Lubrizol regulatory filing yesterday.

Hedge Funds Attract $35 Billion In February, Heaviest Inflow On Record (Barron’s)
Hedge funds attracted net inflows of $34.9 billion in February, their heaviest monthly inflow total on record, according to BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research. That helped to raise industry assets to $1.73 trillion, the highest level since October 2008.

Japan Nuclear Disaster Put on Par With Chernobyl (NYT)
The decision to raise the alert level to 7 from 5 on the scale, overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is based on new estimates by Japanese authorities that suggest the total amount of radioactive materials released so far from Fukushima Daiichi since the beginning of the crisis had reached that threshold.

Fed Plays Down Inflation (WSJ)
At the Economic Club of New York on Monday, Janet Yellen, the Fed’s vice chairwoman, said U.S. monetary policy “continues to be appropriate.”

Super Jumbo Jet Clips Another Plane At JFK (WSJ)
The wing of an Airbus A380—the world’s largest passenger airliner—scraped against the tail of a much smaller regional jet at JFK Airport Monday night. The A380 was an Air France flight bound for Paris. It had left the terminal and was headed for the runway. Meanwhile, a Bombardier CRJ7 jet operated by Comair, which operates flights for Delta Air Lines, had just arrived from Boston and was taxiing toward its gate. As the two planes crossed on intersecting taxiways, the Airbus’s wing hit the rear of the smaller jet.

Facebook Claimant Says He Has Email Proof He Owns Half (Bloomberg)
Paul Ceglia alleges that Zuckerberg defrauded him, lying about the early success of “The Face Book” at Harvard University, where Zuckerberg was a student at the time. Ceglia claims he is entitled to half of Facebook…Ceglia claims in his complaint that he contributed “his time, ideas, knowhow, and other ‘sweat equity’” to the start of Facebook.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Once, five times, same diff no diff.

Goldman Sachs Bank USA, a unit of the company, took overnight loans from the Federal Reserve on Sept. 23, Oct. 1, and Oct. 23 in 2008 as well as on Sept. 9, 2009, and Jan. 11, 2010, according to the data released today. The largest loan was $50 million on Sept. 23 and the smallest was $1 million on the most recent two occasions.

Goldman Sachs President and Chief Operating Officer Gary D. Cohn told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission June 30 that “we used it one night at the request of the Fed to make sure our systems were linked with their systems, and it was for a de minimis amount of money.” Peter J. Wallison, a member of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, then asked, “you never had to use it after that?” “No, and as I said, we used it on the Fed’s request,” Cohn replied.

Oh, did you guys want to know how many times Goldman borrowed in total? Okay, that’s where the confusion was, he thought you meant how many times that day. Total ever was five.

[BusinessWeek]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Rajaratnam’s Wiretapped Call With Brother Bolsters Insider Case (Bloomberg)
And in testimony earlier this week, Goel said that Rajaratnam told him in 2003 that Rajaratnam had given BMW cars to two women in Intel’s sales department who leaked information to him. Lynam asked Goel if he thought Rajaratnam was joking. “I don’t think that was a joke, sir,” he responded. Wasn’t Rajaratnam kidding when he told Goel in a wiretapped conversation that he would kiss Goel on the cheek the next time he saw him? Lynam later asked. “I hope he was,” said Goel, to laughter in the courtroom. “If not, I had him figured out all wrong.”

Economy Grows 3.1%, Aided By Surge in Corporate Profits (Reuters)
Gross domestic product growth was revised up to an annualized rate of 3.1 percent, the Commerce Department said in its final estimate, close to its initial estimate of 3.2 percent published two months ago and up from its tally of 2.8 percent made in February.

Barclays Said to Be Investigated by Regulators in Libor Probe (Bloomberg)
U.S. and U.K. regulators are examining if communications between Barclays’s traders and its treasury broke regulations that stop information being shared across the bank.

S&P Warns Big Banks About ‘Excessive’ Dividends (NYT)
The credit rating agency said in a report that it “remains wary of banks aggressively increasing capital returns to shareholders at this juncture of the economic recovery.” S.&.P. indicated it might downgrade credit ratings at banks that made “excessive” payouts to investors.

Goldman Slides to 10th Spot in US M&A Rankings (Reuters)
Goldman advised on $71 billion worth of U.S. deals in the first quarter, far less than JPMorgan’s chart-topping $170 billion, and even lower than much smaller banks such as Rothschild, Evercore Partners and Lazard.

China-Focused Hedge Fund Assets Rise Despite Laggard Performance (DJ)
China funds added $3.5 billion in assets in 2010 to a total $18.68 billion, even as their 6.11% gains were short of the global industry average of 10.55%.

Warren Says Consumer Bureau Foes Should Look at Bank ‘Behemoths’ (Bloomberg)
“If we’re going to go out there and spill ink on accountability, we should also ask about how to hold powerful financial institutions accountable,” Warren said yesterday in an interview with Bloomberg News. “The idea that we should be worried that some agency that will speak up for consumers might get a little too loud is looking in the wrong direction.”

Bernanke To Hold Press Conferences 4 Times A Year (WSJ)
“The introduction of regular press briefings is intended to further enhance the clarity and timeliness of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy communication,” the Fed said.

Spain’s Bank Rescue Hits Headwinds (WSJ)
Eight of Spain’s cajas must present their capital-raising plans to regulators by April 10. That has caused a flurry of activity in recent weeks as savings banks sounded out hedge funds and private-equity funds and others pursued initial public offerings. But the exercise has stirred questions from investors about the level of reserves that the banks hold against real-estate risk in their portfolios. The banks also have faced questions over whether their executives have distanced themselves sufficiently from local politics; in some cases, they have even been quizzed about managements’ own understanding of what is on their books. In general, “people don’t understand what they are buying,” said a Spanish banker who has tried to get investors interested in the cajas.

Reactor Core May Be Breached at Damaged Fukushima Plant (Bloomberg)
“It’s very possible that there has been some kind of leak at the No. 3 reactor,” Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman at the Japan Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said in Tokyo today. While radioactive water at the unit most likely escaped from the reactor core, it also could have originated from spent fuel pools stored atop the reactor, he said.

Fed Mulls Auction For AIG Bonds (WSJ)
The Federal Reserve is considering an auction for a large portfolio of subprime-mortgage bonds and is consulting with BlackRock Inc. about the process, according to people familiar with the matter.

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

AT&T just announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Deutsche Telecom’s T-Mobile USA unit.

The deal is worth $39 billion, with $25 billion in cash and the rest in stock. By adding 33.7 million customers, the decision should solidify AT&T’s position as the largest carrier in the United States, a position it recently reclaimed with 95.5 million subscribers.

In the announcement, AT&T emphasizes the network benefits to the deal, saying the acquisition provides “a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband.”

Indeed, some have long said that the carrier model is broken and that economies of scale are helping AT&T and Verizon grow larger, while threatening T-Mobile and Sprint’s ability to survive in the long haul. AT&T’s acquisition of T-Mobile accelerates that process and signals the first major step of consolidation. (See the piece written by VentureBeat’s Matt Marshall and Norwest’s Tim Chang two years ago about this).

AT&T’s network has plenty of critics — including from T-Mobile, as you can see in the commercial embedded at the end of this post (spotted via Omar L. Gallaga).

Sprint was previously rumored to be in talks to acquire T-Mobile, a deal that VentureBeat’s Devindra Hardawar described as the “worst idea ever.” This deal makes a bit more sense, since AT&T (unlike Sprint) uses the same GSM network technology as T-Mobile.

US regulatory agencies still have to approve the acquisition. The government may not be entirely receptive to the idea — Business Insider notes that 2010 was the first year the Federal Communications Commission did not conclude that the wireless industry was competitive, although Wireless Industry News reports that the FCC may go back to calling the industry competitive this year. AT&T tries to address regulatory concerns in its announcement, saying, “The U.S. wireless industry is one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world and will remain so after this deal.”

Forrester analyst Charles Govin said the deal has pluses and minuses:

The good news: high-speed mobile broadband service will improve in quality and coverage, including — in the long run — those in rural communities outside the reach of terrestrial broadband today. The bad news: the cost of that service won’t come down nearly as fast as customers would like, since AT&T and Verizon Wireless combined would own nearly three out of every four wireless subscriptions in the US. While clearly troublesome for Sprint and other smaller mobile competitors, It’s also bad news for cable operators, whose incipient mobility products will suffer in comparison to what AT&T and Verizon can offer.

Calling all mobile executives: This April 25-26, VentureBeat is hosting its inaugural VentureBeat Mobile Summit, where we’ll debate the five key business and policy challenges facing the mobile industry today. Participants will develop concrete, actionable solutions that will shape the future of the mobile industry. The invitation-only event, located at the scenic and relaxing Cavallo Point Resort in Sausalito, Calif., is limited to the top 180 mobile executives, investors and policymakers. Request an invitation.

Companies: AT&T, T Mobile, Verizon

Article courtesy of VentureBeat » deals

And this bitch be talking shit.

In a lower Manhattan courtroom, prosecutors have played a series of secretly taped telephone conversations, made by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in the insider-trading trial of Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam. The tapes focus on hedge-fund managers and others passing along allegedly hot market tips. But in a Wall Street version of WikiLeaks, the tapes also have revealed what some of capitalism’s chieftains have been saying about their colleagues and associates behind their backs. It isn’t pretty…During a July 29, 2008, call, Messrs. Rajaratnam and Gupta deride Mr. Kumar’s aptitude for doing investment deals. “I’m getting a feeling that he’s trying to, just…be a mini-Rajat, right?” Mr. Rajaratnam says on the tape. “Without bringing anything new to the party, right?” “Yeah, yeah,” says Mr. Gupta, who previously oversaw Mr. Kumar as managing director at McKinsey. “Honestly, Rajat, I’m giving him a million dollars a year for doing literally nothing,” Mr. Rajaratnam tells Mr. Gupta on the July 2008 call.

Oh no he di’int!

Calling Miss Manners: Tapes In Galleon Show Snark [WSJ]

Related: Raj Rajaratnam Trash Talked One Tipster To Another, Who Got To Hear It In Court Today

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker

Today marks Day Three of the Raj Rajaratnam trial and surely you’re so excited you could hardly sleep las night. Opening statements were heard yesterday and the first witnesses are set to take the stand later this morning. Beyond his seven (7) lawyers, the people in the room most important to the Galleon founder are probably the 12 men and women (plus six alternates) who comprise the jury and will determine his guilt or innocence. Among them, they include a drummer in a band and a fan of “Two and a Half Men.”

Juror 1: 49, station agent for the MTA

Juror 2: 70, “a retired bookkeeper with past criminal jury experience.” Watches “Two and a Half Men.”

Juror 3: 27, an activities therapist at a nursing home. Watches “True Blood” and “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Juror 4: 49, works in the food services industry for the Board of Education. Watches soap operas.

Juror 5: 61, nurse. Doesn’t read newspapers, babysits grandchildren in her spare time.

Juror 6: 52, works for the New Jersey Board of Education. Is “a fan of Oprah Winfrey.”

Juror 7: 68, is a “receiving clerk.” Reads the New York Daily News and watches “The Late Show” with David Letterman.

Juror 8: 46, teaches blind and visually impaired children. Watches reality TV, loves baseball.

Juror 9: 56, graphic artist for Apple. Watches “the basic guy stuff” (“Man v. Food” and ESPN).

Juror 10: 48, works for the New York City Administration for Children’s Services.

Juror 11: 53, works for Verizon. Watches “Oprah,” “Dateline” and “America’s Most Wanted.”

Juror 12: 55, works in customer service for the MTA. Churh-goer, bird watcher, reads five newspapers, and has a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

The alternates include: a 35 year-old whose band needs a drummer, an information technology specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and an unemployed guy who, in the early 1990s, was charged with a misdemeanor for receiving stolen property. “It was a street sign that was in my room and they threw as much of the book as they could at me, but I got away from it,” he told Judge Holwell on Monday.

Teachers, Municipal Workers Are Among Those Picked for Rajaratnam’s Jury [Bloomberg]

Article courtesy of Dealbreaker