Rajat K. Gupta, a former head of McKinsey & Co, and director of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) will go on trial for insider trading. He will sit in Federal District Court today and hear the charges against him read.
Gupta allegedly gave Raj Rajaratnam, former head of the Galleon Group hedge fund, confidential information about two companies. The information helped create $63 million in illegal trading profits. Much of the evidence presented will be based phone bills that show Gupta’s calls in which he may have talked about the confidential matters. Other evidence is based on his trading records.
A number of legal experts do not think there are enough smoking guns to show Gupta’s guilt. US prosecution insider trading would be badly hurt if a prized target like Gupta gets off.
Douglas A. McIntyre
