Rajat Gupta's meteoric rise followed by his steep fall has unfolded uncannily like a movie script. The Kolkata, India-born former director at Goldman Sachs was once considered the perfect example of how sheer brilliance and tenacity could help you break through every glass ceiling there ever was in the global corporate world. Ironically, Mr Gupta was today given two years in jail for insider trading.
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Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta was today sentenced to two years in prison for leaking the investment bank's boardroom secrets to Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager at the centre of the US government's crackdown on insider trading.
Mr Gupta, 63, who ran the consulting firm McKinsey & Co and served as a top adviser to the foundations of Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, is the most prominent figure to face prison in the government's sweeping crackdown on insider trading. Mr Gupta was also fined $5 million.
In the court, Mr Gupta said he regretted his actions, noting he lost a reputation he spent a lifetime building.
In a statement, the US attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara, said of Gupta, "His conduct has forever tarnished a once-sterling reputation that took years to cultivate ... We hope that others who might consider breaking the securities laws will take heed from this sad occasion and choose not to follow in Mr Gupta's footsteps."
Mr Gupta's fall from grace began in April 2010, as part of an investigation into Raj Rajaratnam, the Sri Lankan hedge fund manager accused of insider trading. The US government accused Mr Gupta of tipping off Mr Rajaratnam of billionaire investor Warren Buffett's decision to invest $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Mr Gupta allegedly learned this on September 23 in 2008 at a board meeting. His tip allegedly allowed Mr Rajaratnam to buy the stock before the news was made public the next day. Mr Rajaratnam made a profit of $800,000 in just 24 hours.
US prosecutors had sought up to 10 years in prison for Mr Gupta for his "shocking insider-trading crimes". The US government had said the former Goldman director should get a significant prison term, and that he time and again flouted the law and abused his position of trust as a corporate board member.
On the other hand, Mr Gupta's lawyers had sought a non-prison sentence. They had urged Judge Rakoff to consider Mr Gupta's stunning fall from grace as punishment enough.
Bill Gates and Kofi Annan were among several prominent businessmen and humanitarians who had asked the US judge to show fairness when he sentences Mr Gupta.
Mr Gupta was convicted in the case in June this year. He has been out on bail since his conviction on securities fraud and conspiracy charges. He lives in Westport, Connecticut.
Born in Kolkata on 2 December, 1948, Mr Gupta joined McKinsey, the elite management consulting firm as an earnest, understated young man, fresh out of Harvard Business School, and IIT, Delhi, before that. He rose rapidly through a competitive system, going on to rule boardrooms, chair non-profit boards, and move with CEOs and heads of state from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. Upon retiring from McKinsey, in 2007, after nine years as its managing director, Mr Gupta was a sought-after figure on corporate and non-profit boards, and joined those of Goldman, Procter & Gamble, American Airlines, and Harvard Business School.
With inputs from Reuters
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