Inside track

Given that there is no evidence of him benefiting financially from tipping off Raj Rajaratnam—within less than 60 seconds in several cases, such as when Warren Buffett planned to invest $5bn in Goldman Sachs in 2008—most admit the SEC will have a tough job securing a conviction against Rajat Gupta, more so if the contents of the wire taps are not admissible as evidence. The important thing from India's point of view is that, if convicted, Gupta will be the 50th, or thereabouts, person who has confessed or been convicted of insider trading in the past 18-20 months in the US—just last week, Drew Brownstein, the founder and CEO of Denver-based Big 5 Asset Management, pleaded guilty to trading on inside information about a corporate merger and making more than $2.5mn on this.

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