My take on two of the best ‘Insider trading’ stories ever written!

Barely a few years ago, I marveled at reading Anita Raghavan’s brilliant book 'The Billionaire's Apprentice' and here now, I’ve just completed reading ‘Black Edge’, yet another fantastic work by Sheelah Kolhatkar on the same juicy and controversial topic – Insider trading!

It’s indeed a no-brainer that Insider trading at hedge-funds is still one of the most sought after and widely covered topics in the financial press and media.

I believe, both the authors have done complete justice in dealing with this topic using their deep reporting, distinctive writing styles and top-notch storytelling, while bringing out definitive and ‘well-balanced’ facts that overlays narratives with intricate details coming out of methodical and diligent research, from varied and trusted sources.

'The Billionaire's Apprentice' was all about the meteoric rise and the dramatic fall and collapse of the rouge hedge-fund honcho Raj Rajaratnam of the Galleon Group and his several accomplices including the notable former worldwide MD of McKinsey & Co., Rajat Gupta.

‘Black Edge’, has been all about the US government’s racy attempt to catch the ace trader turned hedge fund billionaire Steven A Cohen of SAC Capital on Insider trading charges, and the lengths to which Mr.Cohen goes to elude them.

While one could easily spot a few subtle differences in the plot from reading both the books, the commonalities are presumably obvious and glaring – the Sheriffs of Wall St. – the SEC, FBI, US Attorney’s office at the Southern District of New York and its leading men … Sanjay Wadhwa (SEC), BJ Kang (FBI) and Preet Bharara (US Attorney).

For anyone interested in learning more about the recent Insider trading scandals at US hedge-funds, I strongly urge them to read both these works. They are simply fast-paced, filled with twists and turns and has the grip of a thriller!