'Rajat Gupta sentence to deter others'
FBI Acting Assistant Director-in-Charge Mary Galligan said Gupta not only violated ethical standards and terms of his service on the Goldman Sachs board but also broke the law when he passed insider information to Rajaratnam.
"That is what he has to answer for today. The sentence imposed should send a clear message: providing a tip to a friend, when the tip is insider information, has consequences," Galligan said.
Prominent Indian-American lawyer Ravi Batra said the two year prison sentence for Gupta is "just and fair" and Bharara has shown yet again that the "law cannot be trifled with even by masters of the universe."
"This sentence, after hearing the shattered icon's carefully calibrated statement of regret without culpability, serves to warn others, in whose soul lurks criminality and above-law arrogance, that Wall Street must honestly serve Main Street or face ruin, shame and jail," Batra said.
Anil Sood, who has served as an official at the World Bank for 30 years and had been a character witness at Gupta's trial, said the appeal in the case will be the next thing that Gupta would focus on.
He said Gupta's friends and family were praying for the best as they awaited the sentencing.
While Gupta's sentence is a lot less than the 8-10 years that the prosecution was seeking, Sood said two years in prison is "still a lot" for a person who has had a remarkable life so far.
