Evidence against Gupta “overwhelming” prosecutor tells jury

A US prosecutor told jurors at the at the close of Rajat Gupta's trial yesterday that evidence of insider trading against businessman Rajat Gupta was "overwhelming," while a defense lawyer argued that the government's case was weak and circumstantial, with no direct proof.

Jurors would begin deliberating the charges against Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc board member, later in the day in one of the US government's biggest insider-trading prosecutions in recent years.

According to prosecutors who made closing arguments, Gupta had brazenly and illegally passed stock tips to now-imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, though the defence argued that the government "had no real, hard, direct evidence" to prove it.

"Where is the beef in this case?" defense lawyer Gary Naftalis asked the Manhattan federal court jury. "We have had no real first-hand knowledge of the crimes alleged to have been committed here."

Gupta, 63, has been accused of passing tips to Rajaratnam including the $5-billion investment boost for Goldman by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway in 2008, at the height of the financial crisis.

They also say Gupta had also leaked confidential information when he was on the board of Procter & Gamble.