The US government is examining the possible role of Goldman Sachs and well-known investment banker Rajat Gupta in the Galleon hedge fund insider trading scam, says a media report.
Prosecutors are looking at whether a Goldman Sachs board member gave information about the entity to Galleon hedge fund owner Raj Rajaratnam during the height of the financial turmoil, the Wall Street Journal has reported quoting people close to the situation.
The name of Goldman Sachs emerged in a March 22 government letter "listing companies whose trading by Rajaratnam and others in the Galleon case the US is investigating," it noted.
Quoting people close to the situation, the daily said the "government is examining whether Rajat Gupta - a current Goldman director, former head of McKinsey & Co and close associate of Rajaratnam - shared inside information about Goldman".
The Wall Street Journal noted that no criminal charges or other allegations have been filed against Gupta, nor is there any indication that investigators are looking at his own stock trading.
Attributing to a spokesman for Gupta, the daily said, "Gupta is unaware of any examination of any such issue and has done nothing wrong".
As per the letter, the government is scrutinising trades by Rajaratnam and others in Goldman Sachs from June 2008 through October 2008, a time when Goldman shares gyrated amid the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings and concerns about the future of all major investment banks.
Since October last year, the US authorities have charged 21 people, including some India-origin people, in the Galleon insider trading scam.
