Rajat Gupta, an iconic figure in the American corporate sector who was arrested on charges of passing insider information to his friend Raj Rajaratnam, was released Thursday on bail on a $10 million bond after he pleaded not guilty to offences that could keep him in jail for life.
The 62-year-old Indian-American, who has sat on the board of top US companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter and Gamble, was indicted in the massive insider trading scandal that has rocked Wall Street. The not-guilty plea was filed at his arraignment at a US federal district court here.
He is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and five counts of securities fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud charges. If found guilty, he faces a cumulative jail term of 105 years.
Gupta surrendered before the FBI Wednesday. He was accused of sharing confidential information about investments at Goldman Sachs with billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan-born founder of the Galleon Group, already in jail for 11 years in America’s biggest insider trading scam.
US prosecutor Preet Bharara said Gupta broke the trust of some of America’s top companies and “became the illegal eyes and ears in the boardroom for his friend and business associate Raj Rajaratnam, who reaped enormous profits from Mr Gupta’s breach of duty.” — PTI