Former Goldman Sachs board member Rajat Gupta received a two-year prison sentence Wednesday in the highest-profile case yet of the government’s ongoing insider trading crackdown.
The sentence marks the culmination of a stunning fall from grace for Gupta, 63, a consummate corporate insider who served on the boards of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble. He also headed marquee consulting firm McKinsey and chaired The Global Fund, an international public health organization.
The court received over 400 letters in support of Gupta ahead of the sentencing from backers including Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan.
“With today’s sentence, Rajat Gupta now must face the grave consequences of his crime — a term of imprisonment,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement. “His conduct has forever tarnished a once-sterling reputation that took years to cultivate.”
Gupta was found guilty in June of leaking information from Goldman board meetings during 2008 to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, who began serving an 11-year sentence last year. Prosecutors relied in part on evidence from wiretaps, which hadn’t traditionally been used in insider trading cases and have proven controversial during the current crackdown.
In addition to the prison term, Gupta faces a year of supervised release and a $5 million fine. He is due to report to prison in January.
Prosecutors had requested that Gupta receive eight to ten years in prison. The defense, pointing to Gupta’s extensive history of charitable work, had requested probation, during which he would agree to work full-time at a humanitarian organization in Rwanda or a shelter in New York.
Gupta’s lawyers have previously announced plans to appeal.
“We believe the facts of this case demonstrate that Mr. Gupta is innocent of all these charges, and that he has always acted with honesty and integrity,” attorney Gary Naftalis said following the verdict in June. “This is only Round One.
–CNN’s Jordana Ossad contributed reporting.
