India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta (64), sentenced to two year last year for insider trading, has been ordered to pay $6.2 million for legal expenses incurred by his former employer Goldman Sachs during his trial. Goldman had sought $6.9 million initially, which Gupta did not contest in the New York federal court.
After reviewing the firm’s case-related billing records, Judge Jed Rakoff however cut the bill by 10 per cent, noting that there were some extraneous entries. The money that Gupta now has to pay Goldman is separate from the cost of his legal defence, which has so far exceeded $30 million.
That legal tab has been paid for by Goldman because the bank’s bylaws require it to pay the legal fees of its top officers and directors. But under a deal reached before his trial, Gupta agreed that if found guilty of insider trading, he would reimburse the bank. Gupta plans to appeal against the ruling.
