Rajat Gupta

  • 27 Oct 2011 at 9:44 AM

Rajat Gupta Not Sweating This Insider Trading Business

By Bess Levin

As you may have heard, yesterday morning, former McKinsey managing director Rajat Gupta was charged with insider trading. Is he worried he might be headed to jail in the not too distant future? Not in the slightest. Because 1) As previously mentioned, that time he took part in a fall 2008 conference call with GS management and fellow board members and after hanging up, made himself wait exactly twenty three seconds before getting Raj Rajaratnam on the horn with the details? Wasn’t with the intent for the Galleon manager to actually trade on the material non-public information Rajat was sharing. And 2) Even if a court of law should interpret the evidence otherwise, someone’s got his back. Continue reading »

  • 05 Aug 2011 at 3:29 PM

Rajat Gupta Looks At These Mariner Energy Goons And Gulps Nervously

By Matt Levine

Rajat Gupta continues to have a pretty good run in his insider trading case considering that he was caught on tape telling Raj Rajaratnam about Goldman board meetings 23 seconds after they occurred. Which you might think would be problematic. Yesterday the SEC dropped its administrative action against him, though it will probably re-file in federal court soon.

People having less good days include the Petersons, H. Clayton and Drew, who pled guilty to criminal insider trading in New York court today. H. Clayton was a director of Mariner Energy who told his son Drew that Apache was going to buy Mariner and that he should load up on the company’s stock. Not wanting to look obvious or anything, Drew didn’t buy in his own name, instead buying for his sister and “in the name of an investment club in which he participated with several friends.” Clever! Anyway the sister and investment club, which is called “Blind Seven LLC,” made about $150,000, which was nice for them.

Drew also had a friend whom the Justice Department refers to as “CC-2” and who just happened to run a Denver hedge fund. Let’s let the Justice Department tell us a bit about CC-2:
Continue reading »

  • 12 Jul 2011 at 2:46 PM

Federal Judge Wants to Keep an Eye on SEC to Make Sure They’re Not Bullying Rajat Gupta

By Matt Levine

You might think – particularly if you’re a certain hedge fund manager counting down the days to a September sentencing – that Rajat Gupta did pretty well by not being prosecuted criminally (yet!) for allegedly passing inside information to Galleon. All he’s got so far is an SEC administrative action looking for “disgorgement of ill-gotten gains” and other civil penalties – which, not great, but better than jail.

But then again, not great – and Gupta ran McKinsey so you’d better believe he’s looking for ways to optimize the process. First up: get out of SEC administrative “court” and into a real court.
Continue reading »

  • 17 May 2011 at 11:24 AM

Rajat Gupta’s Friends Have A Pretty Good Excuse For Those ‘Lapses In Judgement’

By Bess Levin

The most common refrain when insider trading or other such fraud occurs on Wall Street is the question of why? Why did he/she do it? Money is often times too simple an explanation (especially when there are mommy issues to be explored) but other times it’s not. Like in the example of former McKinsey partner Rajat Gupta, i.e. the guy who called Raj with information about Goldman Sachs 23 seconds after getting off the phone with Lloyd and the rest of the board. In Gupta’s case, he just 1) seriously wanted that cash and 2) he wanted is ASAP. Continue reading »

  • 29 Apr 2011 at 9:48 AM

Bain & Company Chairwoman Takes A Moment To Point Out Which Consulting Firm Hasn’t Been Employing Alleged Insider Traders

By Bess Levin

In addition to Galleon Group, one firm whose name has popped up a whole bunch as it relates to the Feds’ Insider Trading Fest(ivus) is McKinsey. Until they resigned, the consulting firm employed two partners, Rajat Gupta and Anil Kumar, who have both been accused to sharing material non-public information about various companies with their buddy Raj Rajaratnam (Kumar pleaded guilty last year and has been cooperating with the government, while Gupta, who was called out by the SEC in February, has vowed to fight thing thing to the death). Know who doesn’t have any senior executives on staff who may or may not have traded hot tips for money? Bain Chairwoman Orit Gadiesh can think of one. Continue reading »

  • 24 Mar 2011 at 9:19 AM

What Did Lloyd Blankfein Say To Raj Rajaratnam During Their Friendly Exchange And Handshake Yesterday?

By Bess Levin

As you might have heard, yesterday was the most majestic day of the Raj Rajaratnam insider trading trial, as it starred witness Lloyd Blankfein. After several hours of questioning (and one patently absurd effort by the court illustrator), the judge called for a quick break. During that time, Lloyd apparently “walked up to defense lawyer John Dowd,” with whom he “exchanged some words and a laugh,” and then “rapidly extended his arm and quickly shook Rajaratnam’s hand.” A very brief dialogue ensued, Raj “smiled” and Blankfein walked away. What did LB say to elicit the grin of the former Goldman client? Continue reading »

  • 23 Mar 2011 at 2:43 PM

“He Had An Unfortunate Accident, That’s How I Would Say It”

By Bess Levin

Under cross-examination by Rajaratnam’s lawyer John Dowd, Blankfein said he tried to talk Gupta out of quitting the board on September 12, 2008, not wanting to project instability to the market. But by the time Gupta’s decision not to stand for re-election became known in March 2010, things had changed. “I knew there was questions about Rajat’s behavior, that’s how I would say it,” Blankfein said. [Portfolio]