New York: Past “good deeds” helped Rajat Gupta, the one time poster boy of Indian business in America, get away with a two year prison sentence for leaking corporate secrets to former hedge fund tycoon Raj Rajaratnam.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the Federal District Court in Manhattan Wednesday handed down India born Gupta, 63, a former Indian-American director of Goldman Sachs Group, a more lenient prison sentence than the eight to 10 years stipulated for insider trading by nonbinding federal sentencing guidelines.
The judge also ordered Gupta to pay a $5 million fine and said he would face one year of supervised release after finishing his prison term. The defence plans an appeal.
Gupta, who was accompanied to court by his wife and four daughters, apologised to his friends, family and the charitable institutions that he helped found.
His conduct has forever tarnished a once-sterling reputation that took years to cultivate, he said.
Prosecutors had urged a sentence of 97 to 121 months for Gupta, who was convicted last June for insider trading on three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.
Gupta’s lawyers on the other hand had suggested he could repay for his “shocking” crimes by working for a homeless youth shelter in New York or in Rwanda, helping improve healthcare and develop agriculture in rural areas. (IANS)