Gupta fails to convince apex court of his ‘good character’.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director Rajat Gupta, leaving him to continue serving his two-year prison sentence for insider trading.
Gupta, 66, was convicted in 2012 of passing illegal tips to Raj Rajaratnam, a co-founder of the Galleon Group LLC hedge fund. Gupta, also a former McKinsey & Co. managing partner, is the highest-profile executive convicted in a U.S. crackdown on insider trading at hedge funds, according to Bloomberg.
Gupta argued that the trial court failed to admit evidence of his good character and other testimony that he lacked any motive to commit the offense.
Reuters reported the government utilized wiretaps to prove Gupta leaked information regarding Goldman’s finances, including a crucial investment by prominent investor Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc, by phone to Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.
In addition to his prison term, he was also ordered to make $6 million in restitution to Goldman and pay a $5 million fine.
Gupta has also argued that his ties to Raj Rajaratnam did not mean that he profited from it.
Rajaratnam is serving an 11-year prison sentence in the same federal prison in Devens, Massachusetts as Gupta. The Supreme Court rejected Rajaratnam ‘s appeal in June 2014.
In January, the Supreme Court rejected Gupta’s separate appeal to reverse a permanent ban from acting as a public company officer. The court then left intact a June 2014 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling upholding the sanctions.
In addition to the officer ban, Gupta was prohibited from further violating securities law and associating with brokers, dealers or investment advisors, disclosed Fox Business.
Before his conviction, Gupta was “once one of the nation’s most respected corporate directors, noted the Wall Street Journal.