Rajat Gupta's fate set to be sealed in US court

Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta is set to be sentenced by a US judge here on insider trading charges, a year after the Indian-American Wall Street honcho was charged with passing boardroom secrets to the now-imprisoned hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.

The Prosecution has sought a prison term of 8-10 years for the 63-year-old Gupta, who was convicted by a jury in June this year in a closely followed trial on three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy.

His sentencing by US District Judge Jed Rakoff later this evening comes exactly a year after Manhattan's top federal attorney India-born Preet Bharara filed insider trading charges against the former McKinsey head.

Gupta, the most high-profile Wall Street executive to be convicted in the government's crackdown on insider trading, is seeking leniency from the judge, citing his otherwise unblemished career and philanthropic work.

In a memorandum filed in federal court last week, Gupta's lawyer Gary Naftalis sought probation for his Harvard-educated client, saying Gupta is willing to live in Rwanda and work with the local government on health care and agricultural initiatives.

Bharara is seeking a prison term of 8-10 years for Gupta, arguing that his "shocking" crimes were not an "isolated occurrence or a momentary lapse in judgement and a "significant term of imprisonment is necessary to reflect the seriousness of Gupta's crimes and to deter other corporate insiders in similar positions of trust from stealing corporate secrets and engaging in a crime that has become far too common".