Raj Rajaratnam wants jurors at his insider-trading trial told that he was a professional stock analyst who broke no laws by speaking to corporate insiders as he worked to “ferret out” information.

With jury selection three weeks away, John Dowd, the lead defense lawyer for the Galleon Group LLC hedge fund co-founder, gave the judge a proposal for instructing jurors on the law, offering the most detailed insight yet into his defense strategy.

Rajaratnam, 53, goes on trial Feb. 28 in Manhattan federal court in what prosecutors said is the biggest US crackdown on insider trading by hedge funds.

The Sri Lanka native is accused of making more than $40 million in illegal trades dating back to 2003 at his New York-based fund and faces as many as 20 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charges. He denies wrongdoing.

In the more than 15 months since Rajaratnam was charged, the probe has expanded to other hedge funds, banks, technology companies and so-called expert networking firms. Six defendants were sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

The proposed jury instructions indicate Rajaratnam is planning to argue he was “just doing my job” by amassing company news, said Barry Pollack, a white-collar defense lawyer at Miller & Chevalier in Washington who isn’t involved in the case.