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Former AMD chief linked to Galleon case

Hector Ruiz, the former CEO and chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, has been linked to the insider-trading case, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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The former CEO and chairman of Advanced Micro Devices, Hector Ruiz, has been linked to the Galleon insider-trading case, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Hector Ruiz
Hector Ruiz AMD

This revelation comes after an unnamed executive at AMD was cited repeatedly in a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District earlier this month.

The case revolves around Raj Rajaratnam, who founded the Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund that manages $7 billion in funds. Federal prosecutors charged Rajaratnam and five others with securities fraud, alleging they were involved in insider trading of well-known tech companies, including Intel, Google, AMD, and IBM.

"We are thoroughly reviewing the situation," AMD spokesperson Drew Prairie said. "We are not aware of any allegation of criminal misconduct on the part of any current or former AMD employees, nor have any current or former AMD employees been charged with a crime."

Ruiz is currently chairman of Globalfoundries, the chip manufacturing concern that was spun off from AMD in October of last year. A Globalfoundries spokesman had no comment.

AMD was prominent in the U.S. Attorney's complaint, which alleges Rajaratnam and others engaged in insider-trading activity when AMD was trying to reorganize and spin off its manufacturing operations last year--which eventually became a multibillion-dollar deal. The U.S. Attorney's complaint makes the first references to an AMD executive in June 2008. At that time, AMD, seeking a buyer for its manufacturing operations, entered into negotiations with investors based in Abu Dhabi.

As the announcement of the spin-off got closer, Danielle Chiesi, who worked for the New Castle hedge fund, is alleged to have said that "she had spoken with the AMD Executive, who told her that 'Wall Street will be shocked,' and that AMD will 'definitely make the announcement...before they print (quarterly earnings).'" Alan Kaufman, Chiesi's attorney, said his client would plead innocent to the charges.

The spin-off was ultimately announced on October 6 when an investment was secured from Advanced Technology Investment and Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Development. At that time, AMD said the new company had secured about $5.7 billion of "confirmed, pledged investment."

Ruiz served as CEO and chairman of AMD until July 2008, when Dirk Meyer was appointed CEO. He remained as chairman of AMD until October when AMD's manufacturing operations were spun off. At that time, he become chairman of Globalfoundries.