Former Goldman Sachs director seeks bail while appealing conviction

NEW YORK -- Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman Sachs director a found guilty of insider-trading charges in October, will try to remain free while he appeals his conviction.

Gupta’s bid to stay free beyond his Jan. 8 surrender date is scheduled to be heard Tuesday by the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

If Gupta begins serving his two-year sentence and his appeal were eventually successful, he could conceivably be freed or face a new trial after serving much of his sentence.

In court papers, Gupta’s lawyers laid out what they claimed were judicial errors in the case, and concluded: “Gupta was denied the opportunity to present the best evidence of his innocence. These errors pervaded the whole trial.”

A jury convicted Gupta of illegally leaking sensitive boardroom secrets to his friend Raj Rajaratnam, a hedge fund manager who has been convicted of running a vast insider-trading network on Wall Street.

Federal prosecutors argue in court papers that Gupta poses a flight risk if he is allowed to remain free on bail during appeal, and that the district judge ruled appropriately during the trial. The government’s filing cited the district judge’s finding that Gupta’s grounds for appeal were not substantial.

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