Confident Chiesi breaks silence

As one associate of accused insider trading mastermind Raj Rajaratnam pleaded guilty yesterday, a key figure in the alleged scheme was professing her innocence and lamenting her portrayal as a foul-mouthed flirt who used her wiles to extract information.

"There is not even a chance we will do one day in jail," Danielle Chiesi boldly told Reuters. "We didn't do anything wrong."

She added that it had been "an honor and a privilege" to stand next to Rajaratnam in court. The two are set to make another court appearance Thursday.

Later, using a fighter-pilot term Chiesi said, "When you are flying you always check six. You check to see if your enemy is behind you."

reuters

DANIELLE CHIESI 'Check six,' fella.

She declined to name those enemies beyond saying, "Apparently, we have a lot of them."

The comments are her first since Chiesi, 44, was arrested in October and charged with 17 counts of securities fraud and related charges in connection with what has been called Wall Street's largest insider-trading scam. The former hedge fund analyst, along with Rajaratnam, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Despite being advised by her lawyer not to talk to the press, Chiesi said her desire to set the record straight got the better of her. She refused to comment on the hour of taped conversations the feds plan to use as evidence.

Chiesi has often been portrayed as a woman with a potty mouth who would wear short skirts and low-cut blouses and flirt with company executives. Others, though, say she is being type-cast, a common fate for strong women in the predominantly male hedge-fund world.

She has been accused of getting an unnamed pal at Akamai Technologies to pass along information that yielded a gain of more than $2 million for her employer, hedge fund New Castle.

Meanwhile, ex-Intel Capital director Rajiv Goel yesterday pleaded guilty to fraud in connection with the Rajaratnam case, admitting he profited from illegal trades.