Very disappointed at court verdict against Gupta: lawyer

A lawyer for former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has said he is "very disappointed" at the decision of a US court to uphold the conviction of the India-born executive on insider trading charges, and that his client deserves a new trial.
"We are very disappointed in today's decision, we believe Gupta is entitled to a new trial, and are closely reviewing the opinion with an eye toward further review," said 65-year-old Gupta's lawyer Seth Waxman who was US solicitor general under former President Bill Clinton.
The three-judge bench of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in its March 25 order, upheld Gupta's conviction by a district judge on insider trading charges and denied his bid for a new trial, ruling that there is no merit in Gupta's appeal that wiretap evidence was improperly admitted in his trial.

"We have considered all of Gupta's arguments on this appeal and have found them to be without merit. The judgment of the district court is affirmed," Circuit Judge Amalya Kearse said.
Gupta was found guilty in June 2012 of passing confidential information about Goldman Sachs to his friend and business associate hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam just minutes after Gupta exited Goldman's board meetings.
The prosecution had presented as evidence telephone records that showed that calls were made to Rajaratnam's direct line from the conference room telephones where Gupta had participated in Goldman Sachs board meetings.

The connection between Rajaratnam's line and the telephone Gupta used lasted approximately 30 to 35 seconds.

Gupta was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, to be followed by a one-year term of supervised release, and was ordered to pay a fine of USD 5,000,000.
He had been free on bail pending decision on his appeal.
In an amended judgment entered in February 2013, Gupta was also ordered to pay restitution to the amount of USD 6.22 million, an order that is the subject of a separate appeal that has been held pending decision of the present appeal.
In the present appeal, Gupta had challenged his conviction, contending that he is entitled to a new trial on the grounds that the trial court erred by admitting statements of a co-conspirator, recorded in wiretapped telephone conversations to which Gupta was not a party, and by excluding relevant evidence offered by Gupta.

"We conclude that Gupta's contentions lack merit, and we affirm the judgment," the order said.