White Collar Roundup - April 2014

Gupta Conviction Affirmed

In United States v. Gupta the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the conviction of Rajat Gupta for his participation in the Raj Rajaratnam insider-trading scheme. The court broke no new ground in affirming the conviction. One error Gupta claimed was that his conviction relied on hearsay evidence gained from wiretaps on Rajaratnam's cell phone that Gupta was not a party to. The court rejected that claim, reaffirming that "[a] finding as to whether or not a proffered statement was made in furtherance of the conspiracy should be supported by a preponderance of the evidence." Next stop for Gupta . . . a potential petition to the U.S. Supreme Court.