New York, June 15 (IBNS): Former global head of elite consultancy McKinsey & Co Rajat Gupta, charged with divulging confidential information to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, has been convicted of conspiracy and securities fraud.
The verdict, guilty of three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy, was reached by a jury in a federal court in Manhattam on Friday, following a day of deliberation in the trial that began on May 22.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff has set the 63-year-old’s sentencing for October 18.
Gupta surrendered to the Federal Bureau of Investigation last year in October on criminal charges of leaking inside information to Galleon Group hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.
Gupta, who also was once director at investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs, had been named by prosecutors as an unindicted co-conspirator in the criminal case against Rajaratnam earlier in 2011.
Kolkata-born Gupta is by far the highest-ranking corporate executive to be caught up in the government's wide-ranging insider-trading probe that resulted in 51 convictions or guilty pleas since late 2009.
Gupta has long maintained that he is innocent. He "has always acted with honesty and integrity" and “did not tip Mr. Rajaratnam so he could trade, and did not share in any profits as part of any quid pro quo”, a statement from his lawyer Gary Naftalis had said.
