US court ask for specifics of financial benefits made by Gupta

NEW YORK: A US judge has asked prosecutors to provide specific financial benefits they allege former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta made by passing inside information to his friend Raj Rajaratnam amidst allegations that he also tipped him about Proctor and Gamble's 2008 sale of Folgers Coffee Co to JM Smucker.

The judge's direction came after Gupta's lawyers claimed that he made no profits and called the government's allegations "mumbo jumbo".

In a pre-trial hearing in Manhattan federal court here yesterday, Judge Jed Rakoff said he would "encourage" the government to be "more specific" about the financial benefits accrued to Gupta, as alleged in the indictment filed against him in October last year.

Rakoff said the prosecutors should "spell them (any financial profits) out with reasonable specificity" in any superseding indictment the government may bring against Gupta in the coming weeks.

During the hearing that lasted for over an hour and which Gupta attended, the government said it is likely to bring slightly revised and expanded charges in a superseding indictment against Gupta by the end of January.

"A final decision has not been made, but more likely than not there will be a superseding indictment," Assistant US Attorney Richard Tarlowe told the judge.

Prosecutors also disclosed during the hearing that apart from passing confidential information about Goldman Sachs and Proctor and Gamble to Rajaratnam, Gupta tipped the Galleon hedge fund founder about P&G's three billion dollar sale of Folgers Coffee Co to JM Smucker in 2008.