WOW!!! Could Hector Ruiz be a bigger scumbag than Bernie Madoff???

IF the allegations are true, then Hector will surely rank right up there with Ponzi-boy as the poster child of breaching a fiduciary duty. Ponzi-boy breached his duty to his investors. If the allegations are true, then Ruiz breached his fiduciary duty to his shareholders.

This is shaping up to be an amazing story - if true.

Like I said, "Wow"!!!!

Here is the story from the Wall Street Journal - which will be in print tomorrow AM (October 28).

WOW!!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125668266149911475.html?mod=djemalertNEWS

Ex-Chief of AMD Is Linked to Galleon
By ROBERT A. GUTH and DON CLARK

One of the technology industry's highest-profile executives has become ensnared in an alleged insider-trading case that is shaking the corporate and financial worlds.
Hector Ruiz, former chairman and chief executive officer of AMD, speaks during a session entitled 'The Power of Collaborative Innovation' on day three of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 25, 2008.


A criminal case filed by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office earlier this month alleged an unnamed Advanced Micro Devices Inc. executive shared confidential information about the chip maker with a defendant in the case. The AMD executive is Hector Ruiz, then AMD's chairman and previously the company's chief executive, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Ruiz, who isn't a defendant, didn't return calls seeking comment. A lawyer for Danielle Chiesi, a defendant in the case and the person to whom the person said Mr. Ruiz allegedly passed the information, declined to comment.
The involvement of Mr. Ruiz, 63 years old, adds the biggest name yet to the case, in which Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of the hedge-fund firm Galleon Group, and five others including Ms. Chiesi face federal criminal and civil charges. All have said they are innocent. Galleon said Tuesday it has nearly completed liquidating its funds.

A complaint filed in a New York federal court this month alleged that the AMD executive now identified as Mr. Ruiz shared confidential information with Ms. Chiesi about a 2008 reorganization of AMD. The deal spun off AMD's manufacturing operations to a joint venture bankrolled by investors from Abu Dhabi. Mr. Ruiz became chairman of the new company, Globalfoundries Inc., and continues in that role.

Globalfoundries declined to comment. Drew Prairie, an AMD spokesman, said, "We are continuing to evaluate the matter and we are not aware of any allegation of criminal misconduct on the part of AMD or any current or former employees." He declined to comment on the investigation.

Galleon and a hedge fund where Ms. Chiesi worked, New Castle LLC, bought AMD shares in hopes of profiting when the deal was announced, according to the criminal complaint and a civil action by the Securities and Exchange Commission. They ultimately didn't profit, prosecutors say, amid a slumping stock market last fall.

More
• Deal Journal: The Hector Ruiz File
• WSJ Topics: Galleon Group

The U.S. doesn't allege that the AMD executive identified as Mr. Ruiz traded for himself or received any money for passing along information.
It isn't clear what legal liability, if any, he could potentially face for the allegations described in the criminal complaint. Other executives named in the case who didn't trade on the information or receive money for information were charged with conspiracy, and have denied wrongdoing. Court documents don't indicate whether prosecutors or SEC officials are considering additional legal actions related to AMD. Representatives of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office and the SEC declined to comment.

Mr. Ruiz is one of the chip industry's most respected executives, credited with pushing a series of changes to help AMD compete against Intel Corp.

Defendants besides Mr. Rajaratnam and Ms. Chiesi include Robert Moffat, a senior vice president at International Business Machines Corp.

Mr. Ruiz, who grew up in Mexico, learned English while doing chores for a Methodist missionary. He earned a doctorate in electrical engineering and worked at Texas Instruments Inc. before a 22-year stint at Motorola Inc. He joined AMD in 2000, and two years later was named CEO of the Sunnyvale, Calif., company, which he largely ran from offices in Austin, Texas. AMD reported losses for much of Mr. Ruiz's time as CEO but made progress in penetrating markets dominated by Intel.

Mr. Ruiz dispensed with some businesses while adding others, notably ATI Technologies, a maker of graphics chips. That $5.4 billion deal left AMD with heavy debt.

Mr. Ruiz concluded AMD needed to follow the lead of other chip designers in shedding factories. The criminal complaint that cites the unnamed AMD executive is based largely on recorded conversations during about four months in summer 2008 while AMD negotiated a spinoff of the operations. That venture would receive billions of dollars from government-owned investment firms in Abu Dhabi. AMD also had to negotiate with IBM over a license for IBM-owned technology.

The complaint against Mr. Rajaratnam also alleges he received information about the AMD transaction from Anil Kumar, who worked at McKinsey & Co., which provided consulting service to AMD. Through a lawyer, Mr. Kumar, a defendant in the case, has denied the charge.

According to the government complaints, Mr. Moffat, the IBM executive, took part in those negotiations, and later allegedly shared insider information about the spinoff transaction with Ms. Chiesi.

According to the person familiar with the matter, Ms. Chiesi appeared to collect information from Mr. Moffat and "the AMD Executive" now identified as Mr. Ruiz, and to share it with Mr. Rajaratnam and a co-defendant at New Castle named Mark Kurland. A lawyer for Mr. Kurland declined to comment.

In a recorded conversation on June 6, 2008, Ms. Chiesi gave Mr. Rajaratnam an update on the AMD "deal" based on a talk she said she had with the AMD executive, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint said that in August and September 2008, the executive now identified as Mr. Ruiz and Ms. Chiesi discussed such details as the timing of the transactions and how big an impression the spinoff would make on investors.

On Aug. 26, 2008, the complaint said she asked the executive if AMD would be left with less than $3 billion in debt, to which he replied "yes," and then confirmed that the deal would be announced in September.

In September 2008 the AMD executive called Mr. Chiesi and had a brief discussion of the spinoff, saying "you know, we're going to shock the hell out of everybody," and that the deal would likely come in October.

Both Galleon and New Castle bought AMD shares before the transaction was announced on Oct. 7 -- the date Mr. Rajaratnam had predicted in a Sept. 30 conversation with Ms. Chiesi, the complaint against her states. AMD's stock opened that trading that day about 25% higher than the previous day's closing price, the document adds.
But the trades took place when the stock market was falling amid the worsening financial crisis. Neither firm made money on the insider trading, the government complaints say.

Separately, Galleon's liquidation of $3.7 billion in securities in its hedge funds' portfolios is "more than 90% complete," a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.