Rajat Gupta seeks stay of prison surrender date

Rajat Gupta, the India-born former Goldman Sachs director, has sought a stay on a US court order to start serving a two-year sentence from June 17 on insider trading charges, contending that his bail conditions should be continued till his motion to rehear his case is decided upon.

In a 23-page motion filed in the Court of Appeals here, Gupta's lawyers asked the court for "an order staying his surrender date and continuing bail pending further appellate review".

Gupta, who had lost his appeal to overturn his conviction on insider trading charges, was ordered in April to surrender and begin his two-year prison sentence on June 17. His lawyers said his bail should be continued pending the court's final disposition of his petition for rehearing and, if rehearing of his case is not granted, pending the Supreme Court's final disposition of his certiorari (a writ seeking a judicial review) petition. In seeking an order to stay his surrender date, 65-year-old Gupta is prepared to file a petition for certiorari on an expedited basis, the motion said.

Gupta had in April petitioned that a three-judge panel, which upheld his conviction and two-year prison sentence on insider trading charges, should reconsider its decision and the appeals court rehear the case, arguing that "critical evidence" in his favour was excluded at trial.

In the motion filed on Tuesday, Gupta's lawyers said his combined petition for panel rehearing and rehearing en banc (a session where a case is heard before all the judges of a court) has yet to be decided. They said he presents no risk of flight or danger to the community and has abided by all conditions of release set by the district court.

"The certiorari petition that he plans to file if his rehearing petition is denied will raise at least two substantial questions, as detailed below. If either of those issues is decided in Gupta's favour, a new trial will be required. If bail is not continued, Gupta may serve half of his two-year sentence before the Supreme Court decides his case," they said.

The lawyers said if his combined rehearing petition is denied, Gupta is prepared to file the certiorari petition on an expedited basis.