Rajat Gupta,an iconic figure in US corporate sector who was arrested on charges of passing insider information to his friend Raj Rajaratnam,was released today on bail on a $10-million bond after he pleaded not guilty to offences that could keep him in jail for life. The 62-year-old Indian-American,who has sat on the board of some of the top US companies like Goldman Sachs and Procter and Gamble,was indicted in the massive insider trading scandal that rocked Wall Street. He entered not guilty plea at his arraignment at a US District court here. He is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and five counts of securities fraud. He faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the conspiracy charge and 20 years in prison on each of the securities fraud charges. If found guilty,Gupta faces a cumulative jail term of 105 years. Gupta surrendered before the FBI yesterday. He was accused of sharing confidential information about investments at Goldman Sachs with billionaire hedge fund manager Rajaratnam,the Sri Lanka born founder of Galleon Group,who is already in jail for 11 years for insider trading scam,Americas biggest. US prosecutor Preet Bharara said Gupta broke the trust of some of USs top public companies and became the illegal eyes and ears in the boardroom for his friend and business associate,Raj Rajaratnam,who reaped enormous profits from Guptas breach of duty. As alleged,he broke that trust and instead became the illegal eyes and ears in the boardroom for his friend and business associate,Raj Rajaratnam,who reaped enormous profits from Guptas breach of duty, 43-year-old Bharara,an Indian-American who became US Attorney for the Southern District of New York in 2009,said. Guptas lawyer Gary Naftalis said that his client was innocent. Gupta did not trade in any securities,did not tip Rajaratnam so he could trade,and did not share in any profits as part of any quid pro quo, Naftalis said in a statement. Naftalis,said that Gupta only had legitimate communications with Rajaratnam.
