U.S. prosecutors charge banker with fraud and conspiracy

NEW YORK: U.S. prosecutors have charged a high-level investment banker in Pakistan with earning more than $7.5 million in illegal profit from an insider-trading plan they say was run by a former Credit Suisse banker.

In a 26-count complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Tuesday, the United States attorney's office accused Ajaz Rahim, 44, the head of investment banking at Pakistan's Faysal Bank, of conspiracy and securities fraud.

Rahim is accused of profiting from confidential information about nine deals, including the $45 billion buyout of TXU, a Texas utility. Credit Suisse was an adviser on all nine deals. A lawyer for Rahim, Spencer Barasch, said that his client looked forward to defending himself in court.

A warrant has been issued for Rahim's arrest, prosecutors said.

Citing telephone and e-mail records, prosecutors said that from April 2006 until this February, Rahim received confidential information from Hafiz Muhammad Zubair Naseem, 37, a junior associate in Credit Suisse's global energy group at the time.

Prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission have said that Naseem repeatedly called Rahim's home and cellphone from his office phone at Credit Suisse and divulged information about deals in which the bank was an adviser. Shortly after the calls, Rahim would buy shares in companies involved in the transactions.

Prosecutors said that Rahim earned more than $7.5 million from the transactions. More than $5.1 million of that stemmed from trading in TXU.

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