Former Goldman Sachs Directory Rajat Gupta Convicted

NEW YORK (AP) — A former Goldman Sachs director was found guilty Friday of feeding confidential information to a corrupthedge fund manager, becoming the most prominent defendant convicted so far in a wide-ranging probe conducted by investigators armed with wiretaps.

Rajat Gupta — born in India, educated at Harvard and well-known in corporate America — was convicted by a jury of conspiracy and three counts of securities fraud, and acquitted of two other securities fraud counts. He showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read, though his adult daughters hugged and wept.

Here is more on the trial as it developed:

“That is a gambit that can bamboozle people into thinking something was proven when it wasn’t,” Naftalis told the jury. Outside court, he said he was disappointed in the guilty verdicts.

“We believe the facts of this case demonstrate that Mr. Gupta is innocent,” Naftalis said. “He always acted with honesty and integrity.”

“Rajat Gupta broke the law, plain and simple,” FBI Assistant Director Janice K. Fedarcyk said in a statement.

Rajaratnam, founder of the $7 billion Galleon hedge fund, was sentenced last October to an 11-year prison term on an insider-trading conviction. Less than a month later, Gupta was charged in a separate case built on the some of the same wiretap and other evidence.

Source: AP New York