Ex- Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta to face ‘insider trading’ charges

October 26, 2011 | Business | Written by

New York, Oct 26: Former Indian American Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta will surrender to the FBI to face criminal charges related to an ongoing insider trading investigation.

Gupta, 62, was accused of feeding Galleon Group LLC co-founder Raj Rajaratnam inside information, and was charged following a four-year securities fraud investigation of insider trading at hedge funds by the New York office of the FBI.

A person familiar with the investigation said that Gupta would be charged alone in a case prosecuted by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, the Washington Post reports.

Gupta’s attorney, Gary Naftalis, made no comment on possible criminal charges, but he issued a statement echoing his previous comments that Gupta committed no wrongdoing.

“Any allegation that Rajat Gupta engaged in any unlawful conduct is totally baseless,” his lawyer, Naftalis, said in an e-mailed statement after the charges were reported.

“He did not trade in any securities, did not tip Rajaratnam so he could trade, and did not share in any profits as part of any quid pro quo,” he added.

Rajaratnam, the central figure in a nationwide crackdown on insider trading at US hedge funds, was convicted of securities fraud by a Manhattan federal jury in May and sentenced to 11 years in prison this month.

In a recent interview, Rajaratnam said prosecutors pushed him to plead guilty to one criminal charge and to give information against Gupta. (ANI)