Raj’s insider trading trial starts

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Galleon hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, the central figure in the biggest U.S. insider trading case in a generation, went to trial on Tuesday in a showdown with prosecutors that will feature wiretap evidence and the testimony of former friends and associates.

Onetime billionaire Rajaratnam, 53, was mobbed by photographers and TV crews when he stepped from a black suburban SUV and walked into Manhattan federal court. Dressed in a brown coat and a suit, he was escorted by one of his lawyers.