Hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty on all 14 counts of insider trading in one of the largest such cases for years, and which came to light in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

The Galleon Group founder could face at least 15 years in prison when he is sentenced on July 29. He was convicted in a New York court.

The prosecution said Rajaratnam ran a web of highly-placed insiders to leak valuable corporate secrets between 2003 and March 2009, earning an illicit $63.8 million (£39 million) from trading on the information, reports on the case said.

The government's unprecedented use of extensive phone tapping in an insider trading case, which is more often deployed in organized crime and drug trafficking probes, may have marked a turning point in the prosecution of white collar crimes, according to a report on the case by Reuters.

During the trial, voices of Rajaratnam and his friends and business associates were broadcast in the courtroom. The court learned how Rajaratnam worked his mobile phone even when he was on holiday on a beach in Miami or in Europe, making arrangements to deposit money into accounts for friends who had provided him tips.

The tipsters included executives at major blue chip companies such as Intel Corp, and Rajat Gupta, who was once head of elite management consultancy McKinsey & Co and a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member.

The verdicts of the jury were unanimous.

Rajaratnam faces between 15 -1/2 years and 19 -1/2 years in prison. He was released until sentencing on $100 million bail; his defence lawyers said an appeal against the sentence will be lodged.

Rajaratnam's lawyers said his trades were guided by a trove of research and public information. Last November, they lost a bid to suppress the wiretaps after arguing that investigators misled the judges who approved the surveillance.

Galleon had $7 billion under management at its peak in early 2008.