Times of India (May 28, 2012)
Rajat Gupta. (Reuters Photo)
NEW YORK: A prosecution witness revealed a jam company's secret plan
code-named Project Moon as government sought to prove that as a
director for Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble Rajat Gupta was
spilling the beans about both.
Prosecution has alleged that Indian-American Gupta told convicted hedge
fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam about Procter & Gamble selling its
Folgers Coffee brand to Ohio-based The JM Smucker's Co., before the
deal went public in June 2008.
Prosecution witness, Mark Belgya, Chief Financial Officer of Smucker's,
however, also told a Manhattan federal court on Friday at the trial of
Gupta on insider trading charges that the information about the
acquisition was leaked to the media before the public announcement.
During cross-examination, Gupta's lawyers tried to establish that the
leak could have come from any of the employees of the banks and lawyers
who were participating in forging the deal.
Earlier in the day, the prosecution played more wiretaps of Galleon
hedge fund co-founder Rajaratnam discussing with his employees tips
about Goldman Sachs that he allegedly received from Gupta.
Prosecution claims that after a Goldman Sachs board meeting on Sep 23,
2008, Gupta immediately phoned Rajaratnam to tell him that the
investment bank was going to receive $5 billion from Warren Buffet's
company Berkshire Hathaway.
Records show that Gupta placed a call to Rajaratnam's phone, but the
prosecution does not have a recording of the actual conversation.
Carolann Shields, an employee at the McKinsey IT department, who tracks
phone records at the consulting firm, said that a call from the
conference room of the McKinsey office in New York was connected to
Goldman Sachs boardroom on Sep 23, 2008.
This call very likely discussed the Buffett deal, according to the
prosecution. Then, Shields said, at 3:55 pm another call from Gupta's
personal assistant went to Rajaratnam's phone, which lasted for about
30 seconds.
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