Sanjay Sanghoee on Raj Rajaratnam & The Old Boys’ Network
As Galleon co-founder Raj Rajaratnam’s trial moves forward, making headlines, it’s worth remembering that this case is really only remarkable for the race of the defendant. Insider trading scandals have been a staple of the American landscape for decades and while the more sensational ones like those involving Michael Milken and Martha Stewart are legendary, they are only symptoms of a larger disease that is the true bane of the business world. The Old Boys’ Club mentality.
The Old Boys’ Club is about more than stock tips or invitations to country clubs; it’s about connections and opportunities deliberately not made available to those outside this exclusive cabal. In other words, it’s about power. When Martha Stewart got a tip from the ImClone CEO or Rajaratnam (allegedly) received a tip from ex-McKinsey partner Anil Kumar, those were much more than simple financial transactions. After all, both Stewart and Rajaratnam are wealthy and successful in other ways without needing to participate in insider trading to make money. The real allure here then is more likely the satisfaction obtained by playing inside baseball – by knowing what others don’t and being able to do what others can’t, thanks to their exclusive social and professional access.
I mentioned earlier that there is some relevance to Rajaratnam’s race. That’s for two possible reasons, both of which should concern us as desis. The first is that Rajaratnam, similar to a fictional character in my own novel “Merger”, may have a chip on his shoulder about being South Asian and needs the validation of his global peers by playing the game that only the world’s richest and most powerful people have the means to play. This type of insecurity complex is, unfortunately, common amongst minorities and sometimes even their most successful members. In the same way that some South Asian men date blond women purely from a twisted desire for status or due to the perception that it buys them acceptance into white society, some South Asians consider money and power as the only real means to attain cultural equality.
The other possibility, however, is even more disturbing: namely that South Asians, particularly wealthy South Asians in finance, are cliquish and have their own Old Boys’ Club that is just as corrupt as their American counterpart. South Asians, as they emerge as an intellectual and professional force to be reckoned with and assimilate effectively into global society, are also becoming more insular at the highest levels, ironically not because of cultural affinity but because of the rapidly rising economic influence of South Asia on the global stage – by coordinating and helping each other, the movers and shakers of the South Asian business community are consolidating this newly found power.
Just as the Japanese and the Chinese are notorious for doing, South Asians today are circling the wagons to preserve their riches and maximize their control over the business world – essentially a cabal of the who’s-who of South Asian capitalists, including (possibly) Raj Rajaratnam, Anil Kumar and Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs director who is accused of leaking inside information to Rajaratnam.
So what’s the moral of this sordid tale?
Desis as a group are growing in stature at a ferocious pace everywhere in the world and particularly in the U.S. With this greater power comes the accompanying responsibility for us to mark ourselves out on the basis of not our economic strength but our cultural values and our magnificent history.
South Asia for all its faults has a sense of character that is unmatched anywhere in the world. Even as ancient traditions crumble and modern ways take hold, the essence of our heritage, namely integrity, humility and honesty, should never be forsaken. At the same time, the insecurities which confuse and confound so many desis in the diaspora should be fought and replaced with a sense of pride in ourselves so that we don’t require the approval of anyone else to tell us who we are and how we should act. Only through these means will our burgeoning influence mean anything and only through these means will we develop as a people and a culture into the future.
(Note: The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lassi with Lavina. Moreover, the author does not intend to imply any guilt on the part of Raj Rajaratnam, Anil Kumar or Rajat Gupta, or make any assumption about the outcome of their trials/legal troubles.)
Sanjay Sanghoee, author of ‘Merger’, a corporate thriller available on Amazon, blogs on political, financial and social topics which are carried weekly by several radio stations. He has written spec episodes for TV shows like ‘Law & Order: SVU’ and a screenplay for ‘Merger’. He has an MBA from Columbia Business School and worked on Wall Street for 15 years in investment banking and hedge funds. www.sanghoee.com
Do you agree? What’s your take on it?
