Jurors weigh Rajat Gupta’s fate in inside-trading case

Jurors in Rajat Gupta’s trial are weighing the former Goldman Sachs director’s fate in his high-profile insider-trading case in New York.

Gupta, 63, is the highest profile defendant to face charges in a wide-ranging insider-trading scheme headed by Raj Rajaratnam.

Rajaratnam was found guilty last year and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Gupta’s trial featured multiple days of testimony by Goldman’s chairman and chief executive officer, Lloyd Blankfein, as well as videotaped testimony by Ajit Jain, who is seen as a potential successor to legendary investor Warren Buffett to run Berkshire Hathaway

Federal prosecutors have produced emails, phone records and other documents in their bid to prove Gupta was a highly placed tipster for Rajaratnam, providing illegal inside information to Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group hedge fund.

Gupta’s defense team has portrayed the government’s case as circumstantial, arguing in part that the well-connected Rajaratnam could have gotten tips elsewhere on Wall Street.

Gupta, who chose not to testify at his own trial, faces five counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

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