Rajat Gupta surrenders before FBI

Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc director once accused of feeding inside information to Galleon Group LLC hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, on Wednesday surrendered before federal authorities, becoming the highest-ranking executive to be arrested in the probe.

Gupta, 62, gave himself up to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents on Wednesday in Manhattan, agency spokesman J Peter Donald said. After a four-year securities fraud investigation of insider trading in hedge funds, Gupta is to be charged in a case prosecuted by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, according to a person familiar with the investigation who declined to be identified because the matter wasn’t public.

“Any allegation that Rajat Gupta engaged in any unlawful conduct is totally baseless,” his lawyer, Gary Naftalis, said in an emailed statement yesterday. “He did not trade in any securities, did not tip Mr Rajaratnam so he could trade, and did not share any profits as part of any quid pro quo.”

Gupta left his home in Westport, Connecticut, on Wednesday at 6:15 am, accompanied by one person. He surrendered two hours later, the FBI said.