A Manhattan jury found Westport resident and former McKinsey & Co. managing director Rajat Gupta guilty of providing insider tips to a hedge fund manager.
Gupta, 63, was accused of tipping off Raj Rajaratnam, who ran the New York City-based hedge fund Galleon Group L.L.C.
Prosecutors convinced the jury that Gupta alerted Rajaratnam in advance of Berkshire Hathaway”™s $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in September 2008 following Lehman Brothers”™ collapse. Gupta was a Goldman Sachs board member at the time.
In all, Gupta was convicted on three counts of securities fraud, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum five-year sentence.
The jury acquitted Gupta on a separate charge of leaking information on Procter & Gamble Co., on whose board he also sat.
Rajaratnam, who co-founded Galleon Group, was convicted and sentenced to 11 years in prison last year, at the time a record sentence for insider trading crimes. He has appealed the verdict.
During the trial, Gupta”™s banker testified he was worth $84 million as of April 2008.
Gupta is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 18.
