Insider trading case: Anil Kumar gets two year probation

NEW YORK: An Indian-American former Mckinsey partner, a key government witness in the high-profile insider trading trial of Wall Street tycoons Raj Rajaratnam and Rajat Gupta, was today sentenced to years probation and ordered to forfeit $ 2.26 million on securities fraud.

Anil Kumar, 53, was sentenced by US Circuit Court Judge Denny Chin in Manhattan federal court today. Apart from the probation sentence, he was also ordered to forfeit $ 2.26 million.

In court papers, prosecutors had told the judge that Kumar had earned leniency with his willingness to come clean about his misdeeds.

"Kumar's significant, powerful, and timely cooperation has provided substantial assistance to the Government in the investigation and prosecution of two of the most high-profile defendants convicted of illegal insider trading in history," prosecutor said.

Kumar was arrested along with hedge fund founder Rajaratnam in October 2009 and had pleaded guilty in 2010 to one count of conspiracy and one count of securities fraud.

"I stand in this court today completely and totally shamed by the conduct that has brought me before your honour," Kumar said at his court hearing.

"I strayed from my core beliefs that I stood for all my life."

A day before his sentencing, court papers submitted by Kumar's lawyers were unsealed in which he had sought probation for his cooperation in the government's crackdown on insider trading on the Wall Street.

In the court papers, Kumar's lawyer Greg Morvillo said he has contributed to various health institutions in the US and India, including the Baylor College of Medicine in Texas and Max Institute of Healthcare Education and Research in India.

Earlier this week, prosecutors had written a 20-page letter to Chin noting that Kumar deserves leniency in his sentencing as his cooperation in the insider trading trials of his Wharton Business School batchmate Rajaratnam and his mentor at Mckinsey Gupta had been "nothing short of extraordinary."