Ex-Goldman Sachs Director Rajat Gupta Jailed Two Years for Insider Trading

Rajat Gupta, former Goldman Sachs director, has begun a two-year jail term after he was found guilty in one of the biggest insider trading schemes in US history.

He also faces a $13.9m (£8.2m, €10.3m) fine and life ban from acting as a public company executive.

On 17 June, Indian-born Gupta reported to the Federal Medical Center-Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts, to begin his two-year prison sentence on insider trading charges, according to media reports.

A three-judge bench of the US Court of Appeals on the same day denied Gupta's plea to avoid the fine and permanent ban.

"We find no abuse of discretion in the imposition of injunctive relief and civil penalties on Gupta by the district court. We have considered Gupta's remaining arguments and find them to be without merit," the judges said in their ruling.

"Accordingly, we affirm the judgement of the district court," they added.

Gupta, who was undergoing routine medical tests at the centre, will become an inmate in the nearby satellite camp.

He was convicted in 2012 of passing confidential information about Goldman Sachs to Raj Rajaratnam, the one-time billionaire founder of the Galleon Group hedge fund.

Rajaratnam, who is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence, is also at Devens. His case hinged heavily on wiretap evidence, and he is appealing his conviction to the Supreme Court.

Gupta, 65, also a former global managing director of consulting firm McKinsey & Co, had asked the nation's highest court for permission to remain free on bail while he pursued an appeal but the court denied the plea.