IIT alums became friends on Street. Then one turned on other

Former Goldman banker Brijesh Goel was arrested for insider trading. His friend, ex-Barclays trader Akshay Niranjan, is co-conspirator, who turned on his buddy

They were business school buddies who landed at top Wall Street firms — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Plc — lived for a time in the same Manhattan high-rise, played squash regularly and partied overseas together.

And then one of them wore a wire and recorded his friend allegedly asking him to delete incriminating text messages.

Former Goldman banker Brijesh Goel was arrested last month for insider trading. His friend, ex-Barclays trader Akshay Niranjan, is “co-conspirator 1” in the criminal complaint against Goel, and the man who turned on his buddy, according sources.

“F---... This we need to delete,” Goel, 37, allegedly said in a conversation Niranjan, 33, recorded. “Did we put on any trade?... It has to be deleted. I don’t even have this chat.”

While betrayals are far from uncommon in the world of high finance or crime, details about the two men show how even the closest ties can rip under FBI scrutiny. Court documents paint a portrait of two young men establishing themselves on Wall Street, sharing good times and allegedly trading on details about pending mergers, until one of them turned on his pal.

Goel has pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of justice, and his lawyer has taken square aim at Niranjan’s credibility.

“Sadly, the government rushed to charge Brijesh on the apparent say-so of one person,” defense lawyer Reed Brodsky said in a statement shortly after the charges were announced on July 25, adding that “the judge and jury will not make that mistake.” Niranjan’s lawyer, Robert Anello, declined to comment.

Low-Stakes Poker

The two men had a great deal in common from the start. Both are from India, where they earned degrees from different campuses of the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). They met in 2012 at University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where they both pursued quant-oriented financial engineering master’s degrees. 

Tomorrowland

It was the first of several trades over the next year or so which prosecutors say made the pair a total of around $280,000 in illegal profits. 

Career Consequences

Niranjan’s reasons for turning on his friend aren’t addressed in court filings, but prosecutors typically offer leniency, or even immunity, to those who cooperate. Several major insider-trading cases have involved betrayed friendships, including former McKinsey & Co. partner Anil Kumar’s testimony against his mentor Rajat Gupta and Raj Rajaratnam. Another cooperating witness in that case, Thomas Hardin, wore a wire to collect evidence against people connected to Rajaratnam. Both Kumar and Hardin received no jail time.

There is no indication that Niranjan faces or will face criminal charges, but the Securities and Exchange Commission is suing him along with Goel for insider trading, raising the prospect of a fine and ban from the financial industry. And Niranjan has apparently already faced career consequences -- Barclays said shortly after the case was announced that he no longer worked there. Goldman said in a July 25 statement that it condemned Goel’s alleged actions and was cooperating with prosecutors and the SEC. “The 2017 and 2018 insider trading alleged by the government is egregious conduct,” the bank said.

Goel was put on indefinite leave by Apollo Global Management, which he joined from Goldman last year as a principal. 

He’s now out on a $1 million bond, with his travel restricted to New York and northern California. His bail agreement also requires that he have “no contact” with his old squash buddy.