Tamil Billionaire Sued in US Court for "Crimes Against Humanity"

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Accused hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam and his family's foundation were sued in a U.S. court on Thursday over allegations that they provided $5 million to Tamil Tigers militants in his native Sri Lanka's civil war.

The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in New Jersey on behalf of 30 people who were victims or survivors of attacks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the South Asian country's civil war said the money assisted "crimes against humanity."

The U.S. government previously looked into the fund-raising network of the Tigers, a rebel group that wants a separate Tamil homeland, and charged eight individuals for raising money for the group to purchase weapons.  It is believed Rajaratnam was part of that investigation -- he has been identified as a person in the related filings called "Individual B" -- and though it appears he gave money to a charity whose funds were routed to the Tamil Tigers, the U.S. did not allege Rajaratnam had any knowledge of where the money went.