Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
Viewing Habits Of Insider Trading Trial Jurors: Oprah, <em>Two And A Half Men</em>, <em>True Blood</em>, Birds
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 10, 2011
Modified Mar 10, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 10, 2011
Modified Mar 10, 2011
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Yesterday, the trial of Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund founder accused of a huge insider trading ring (how huge? well, he's out on $100 million bail), began yesterday, The federal prosecutor declared, "Greed and corruption — that’s what this case is all about," while Rajaratnam's defense said, "The government has it wrong." But who are the people who have to listen to dense financial jargon for weeks, if not months? Well, you can bet at least some are Oprah Winfrey fans.
Bloomberg News offered an amusing sketch of all the jurors, plus the six alternates: For instance, one is a MTA station agent, while another is a retired bookkeeper who briefly was with the Israeli Army and who watches Two and a Half Men. Another, a nursing home activities therapist, said she watches True Blood and Grey’s Anatomy, while another likes Man v. Food and ESPN programs. A special needs teacher says she watches reality television and two other jurors watch Oprah. Another MTA employee says he reads five newspapers and watches birds. And then there's this:
Alternate juror 6 told Holwell he is unemployed and lives in Harlem with his girlfriend and two roommates. He has a bachelor’s degree in English and has held temporary jobs at the American Stock Exchange and NASDAQ. He said he enjoys reading and video games and belongs to a band that’s looking for a drummer.
In college in the early 1990s, he was charged with a misdemeanor for receiving stolen property and pleaded guilty, he said.
“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 [U.S. District Judge Richard] Holwell.
Overall, it's a mostly blue collar jury who don't even know who Lloyd Blankfein is! Prosecutor Jonathan Streeter explained why insider trading is so bad, "Secret information that other people don’t have is a very valuable thing in the stock market... He exploited a corrupt network of people to get access to secret, sensitive information. This is all information that ordinary investors didn't have and couldn't get."
Tagged
galleon
insider trading
jury
oprah
raj rajaratnam
trial
true blood
Two and a Half Men
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Will Barnes and Noble in the East Village spell doom for smaller shops? It's complicated.
Independent booksellers are grappling with whether the big-box chain is a threat or an ally in the fight against Amazon.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Oct 16, 2026 at 12:55 p.m. ET
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
Arts & Entertainment
Can eligible NYC singles find love with 30 minutes and some really spicy food?
We went to the Spiciest Supper Club singles night to take the temperature of New York City's dating scene.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
James Ramsay
How the NYC Marathon has changed in the last 50 years
By
Hannah Frishberg
A visit to Art of Play, the Brooklyn store in an animatronic bird beef with Kelly Clarkson
By
Sonia Rao
The hottest way to show you're an authentic New Yorker is… riding a Citi Bike?
By
Lindsay Lee Wallace
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .