A criminal case filed in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office stated that an unnamed Advanced Micro Devices executive had passed insider stock tips to a defendant -- now that unnamed executive has been revealed to be none other than former AMD CEO Hector Ruiz.  At the time when he allegedly passed information to defendant Danielle Chiesi, he had already stepped down from CEO and was serving as the company's Chairman.

Lawyers for Ms. Chiesi's lawyers refused comment, as did Mr. Ruiz.  Mr. Ruiz is the largest name in the tech industry to be implicated in the case yet.  Currently Mr. Ruiz is facing no criminal charges.

Allegedly Mr. Ruiz tipped Ms. Chiesi in 2008 that a major reorganization of AMD was about to occur.  That reorganization was the spinoff of AMD's fabrication business and creation of the Abu Dhabai backed Globalfoundries Inc.  Globalfoundries makes chips for AMD and other firms.  Mr. Ruiz has served as its chairman since its founding.

According to the complaint, on August 26, 2008 the AMD executive (Mr. Ruiz) was asked by Ms. Chiesi if the company would have less than $3 billion in debt (implying the spinoff), to which he replied "yes".  He then told her that the deal would likely close in September of 2008.  According to documents the executive then called Ms. Chiesi in September, stating, "You know, we're going to shock the hell out of everybody" and telling her that the deal would be officially announced in October.

Globalfoundries also refused to comment on the implications of its chairman becoming ensnared in the case.  Drew Prairie, an AMD spokesman, was about the only party who did offer a comment, stating, "We are thoroughly reviewing the situation, but at this time we don't have any more detail to discuss publicly. 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."

It is unclear what, if any, legal ramifications the case could hold for Mr. Ruiz.  According to sources he did not receive any money or other rewards in exchange for the information.  Also, Galleon, the investment group accused of making the trades did not profit off the AMD trade, because the market slumped and it held on a bit too long.  Court documents do consider that officials are considering legal action against individuals at AMD.

One thing that makes charges seem more likely is that Mr. Moffat, the other individual that passed information to Ms. Chiesi is already up on charges.  He, like Mr. Ruiz, has not been publicly accused of receiving anything in trade or compensation for the information.

Mr. Ruiz grew up in Mexico and learned English from a Methodist missionary.  He then traveled to the U.S., attended school, and eventually received a PhD in electrical engineering.  He then worked for Motorola for 22 years before finally joining AMD in 2000.  He became CEO 2002.

Mr. Ruiz masterminded the purchase of ATI, now one of AMD's most valuable assets.  He also made many moves to cut the company's costs and to push it to be more competitive with Intel in the desktop and server space.

Galleon is liquidating its over $3.7B USD portfolio, in part to finance an expensive legal defense for its executives.  Its founder, Raj Rajaratnam, is accused of master-minding the insider trades.  He and the other Galleon executives have insisted their innocence in court.