BOSTON, May 8 (Reuters) - A former correctional

counselor at a federal prison in Massachusetts was sentenced on

Wednesday to two years in prison for corruptly accepting tens of

thousands of dollars from a wealthy inmate identified by a

source as Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.

U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston rejected a

request by William Tidwell, 50, for a more lenient sentence,

calling the corruption he engaged in while at the Federal

Medical Center Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts "intolerable."

Prosecutors said that corruption involved accepting over

$90,000 in payments through an arrangement with an "ultra-high

net worth" inmate under Tidwell's care in exchange for giving

him favorable treatment.

"The conduct for which you stand convicted cuts to the very

heart of our justice system," Young said. "It's corruption of

the most dangerous sort."

Young ordered Tidwell to forfeit the $90,000 and pay a

$10,000 fine. In court, the New Hampshire resident apologized

for his actions, saying he owned his mistake.

No one in court identified the wealthy inmate by name. But a

person familiar with the matter has previously confirmed he was

Rajaratnam, who was convicted and sentenced in 2011 to 11 years

in prison for insider trading and was released early in 2019.

Prosecutors have said Rajaratnam, the founder of the New

York-based Galleon Group, made as much as $63.8 million in

illicit profit from 2003 to 2009 trading on stocks including

eBay ( EBAY ), Goldman Sachs ( GS ) and Google.

No charges have been filed against Rajaratnam in relation to

Tidwell's case. Rajaratnam's lawyer, Samidh Guha, has said he

would "cooperate appropriately with the government if and when

they reach out to us." Guha declined comment on Wednesday.

Tidwell pleaded guilty in September to charges that he

received payments in violation of his official duties, made

false statements to a bank and committed identity theft.

Prosecutors said Tidwell, beginning in 2018, received a

stream of financial benefits from the inmate and one of his

close friends.

Those benefits included $25,000 to help pay off loans for a

family member and more than $65,000 in fees and other benefits

to help manage certain properties, including one in which

Tidwell lived, according to charging documents.

After the inmate's release from prison, Tidwell in 2020

received a $50,000 loan from the ex-inmate's friend to buy a

house. Prosecutors said he lied on a bank loan application about

the source of that money.