On Monday, Mr. Gupta is set to stand trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The government has charged him with divulging boardroom secrets to his former friend and business associate Raj Rajaratnam, the former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund. Last year a jury convicted Mr. Rajaratnam of orchestrating an insider trading conspiracy that reaped at least $63 million in illegal gains. He is serving an 11-year prison term, the longest sentence for insider trading.
Rajat Gupta, left, and his lawyer Gary Naftalis, right.
Movie stars, government leaders and professional athletes converged on Lincoln Center last month to celebrate Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people. Seated at a table with the television host Matt Lauer and the actress Claire Danes was the prosecutor Preet Bharara, honored for his crusade against Wall Street corruption.
Only a few years ago, the Time 100 could have easily included Rajat K. Gupta, who led the elite management-consulting firm McKinsey & Company and was a confidant of corporate chieftains and major philanthropists around the globe.
Mr. Gupta appears at the top of a very different list today. He is the most prominent criminal defendant ensnared by the Justice Department’s sweeping campaign to end insider trading — a campaign led by Mr. Bharara, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York.
On Monday, Mr. Gupta is set to stand trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The government has charged him with divulging boardroom secrets to his former friend and business associate Raj Rajaratnam, the former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund. Last year a jury convicted Mr. Rajaratnam of orchestrating an insider trading conspiracy that reaped at least $63 million in illegal gains. He is serving an 11-year prison term, the longest sentence for insider trading.
Among Mr. Rajaratnam’s illicit sources of information, prosecutors say, was Mr. Gupta, 63, who sat on the boards of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble.
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