A federal judge on Wednesday rejected hedge fund manager Doug Whitman’s request to end his two-year sentence for insider trading early while he pursues his latest appeal of his 2012 conviction. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said it would be unfair to release the Whitman Capital LLC founder from the Sacramento, California, halfway house where he was moved this month just because he is only five months away from possible freedom. Whitman, 58, was convicted of trading and conspiring to trade on confidential tips from two people who were tipped by insiders at publicly traded technology companies.