Rajat Gupta sentenced to 2 years in jail for insider trading

Fallen Wall Street tycoon Rajat Gupta was today sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay a USD five million fine by a US judge who termed Indian-American's insider trading crimes as "disgusting" and a "terrible breach of trust".

Gupta, 63 was also ordered by US District Judge Jed Rakoff to serve a year of supervised release after the end of his prison term.

The IIT and Harvard-educated former Goldman Sachs director would have to surrender to a designated prison on January 8, 2013. Rakoff denied Gupta's request to remain free on bail while he appeals his case.

A court could have taken about two years or more to rule on Gupta's appeal.

While the judge agreed to a request from Gupta's lawyers that he be assigned to New York's medium-security prison in Otisville, the final decision rests with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Dressed in a dark blue suit, Gupta looked tensed and appeared to hold back tears as his sentencing proceedings began in Manhattan federal court here yesterday. He sat expressionless as Rakoff read the 15-page sentence at the end of the hearing which lasted over two and a half hours.

Gupta's sentencing comes exactly a year after he was charged with securities and conspiracy fraud, for which he had faced a maximum sentence of 25 years and marks a stunning fall from grace for the Indian-American who rose through the ranks to become one of the most prominent titans on Wall Street.

Rakoff, who on multiple occasions gave Gupta credit for his life of philanthropic works, said at the heart of Gupta's offenses is his "egregious breach of trust."

"He is a good man," Rakoff said.

"But the history of this country and the history of the world is full of examples of good men who did bad things."

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