Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta was indicted for conspiracy and securities fraud in connection with insider trading centered on Raj Rajaratnam, co-founder of hedge fund Galleon Group LLC. Rajaratnam was sentenced to 11 years in prison on October 13, 2011.
Gupta, sat on the board of Procter & Gamble Co., was charged with five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud.
According to the indictment filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, from 2008 through January 2009, Gupta disclosed to Raj Rajaratnam material, nonpublic information that Gupta had learned in his capacity as a member of the boards of directors of Goldman Sachs and P&G with the understanding that Rajaratnam would use the inside information to purchase and sell securities. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a separate claim against Gupta.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecutors in the office of Manhattan, New York, have spent four years probing illegal trading at hedge funds, technology companies, banks and consulting firms. Gupta gave himself up to the FBI today in Manhattan.
Gupta faces as long as 20 years in prison if convicted on each of the securities fraud charges and as long as five years if convicted of the conspiracy charge.