A US court on Wednesday slapped a penalty of $13.9 million on former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta for insider trading, and permanently barred him from holding a board position.
One-time global head of McKinsey, Gupta was convicted in 2012 of illegally tipping hedge fund owner Raj Rajaratnam and sentenced to two years in jail, with a penalty of $15 million.
He has challenged his conviction, and is out on bail. It couldn’t be ascertained if he would be appealing against the penalty ordered by a New York judge on Wednesday.
“The sanctions imposed today send a clear message to board members who are entrusted with protecting the confidences of the companies they serve,” said George S. Canellos of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in a statement.
Gupta also stands permanently barred now from “acting as an officer or director of a public company and from associating with any broker, dealer, or investment adviser”.
At the time he was charged with insider trading in 2011, Gupta was on the boards of Goldman Sachs, P&G, Genpact, Harman International and AMR Corps.
{{/usCountry}}At the time he was charged with insider trading in 2011, Gupta was on the boards of Goldman Sachs, P&G, Genpact, Harman International and AMR Corps.
{{/usCountry}}And he was then valued at around $100 million.
Gupta was convicted in June 2012 of passing non-public information about Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway investment of $5 billion in Goldman Sachs to Rajaratnam.