Federal prosecutors in New York City enjoyed seven long years of successfully convicting Wall Street cheats. But their streak has come to an end.

Beginning in 2007, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan managed to string together 85 straight convictions involving insider trading.

The winning streak, oddly enough, began and ended with hedge fund trader Rengan Rajaratnam.

A tip involving Rajaratnam got the office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara going after numerous players in the financial industry, including Rajaratnam’s billionaire older brother, Raj.

But when it finally came time to prosecute Rengan Rajaratnam for allegedly conspiring to commit insider trading with his sibling, Bharara struck out.

A 12-person jury didn’t buy the prosecutor’s case and recently found the defendant not guilty.

“There was no evidence, period,” said jury forewoman Isabel Tirado, according to The New York Times.

“They took their time and they had this evidence years ago,” Richard Holwell, a lawyer in private practice and the former federal judge who presided over the criminal trial of Rajaratnam’s brother, who got 11 years in prison, told the Times. “You can say that the government in the final analysis overreached, and that’s what the jury is for.”

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Prosecutors’ Winning Streak on Insider Trading Cases Ends (by Matthew Goldstein, Ben Protess and Rachel Abrams, New York Times)

Anadarko Agrees to Largest Environmental Damage Settlement in History…and Its Stock Soars (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

JPMorgan Chase’s Madoff Penalty…No Bankers Charged (As Usual) (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

SAC Hedge Fund Agrees to Largest Ever Insider Trading Penalty (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)