Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has agreed to testify for the US government at the coming criminal trial of Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge-fund titan facing insider-trading charges, reports the WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors have charged Rajaratnam, the billionaire founder of Galleon Group, with 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy, in the biggest insider-trading case in a generation. 19 of 26 defendants in the case have pleaded guilty. The US would use Blankfein to establish evidence linking leaked information about Goldman with former Goldman director Rajat Gupta, said the people. Prosecutors have alleged Rajaratnam obtained inside information about Goldman in October 2008. In a separate civil proceeding filed this week, the SEC alleged Gupta passed inside information about Goldman to Rajaratnam. Gupta’s lawyer has said his client did nothing wrong

This entry was posted by Gwen Robinson on Friday, March 4th, 2011 at 4:21 and is featured in The 6am Cut London (4 Mar 2011) . Tagged with galleon group, goldman sachs, insider trading, Raj rajaratnam, Rajat Gupta, sec. Edit this entry.