Ex-Intel MD Rajiv Goel gets no prison term in insider trading trial

NEW YORK: Intel Corp's India-born former MD Rajiv Goel, once a friend of Raj Rajaratnam and his accomplice in insider trading, was let off by a court without a jail term as he helped prosecutors nail the disgraced Galleon founder in America's biggest insider trading scandal.

Goel, who apologised profusely and said he was "deeply shamed", was awarded two years of probation and fined $10,000 by a US court that also ordered him to forfeit $266,649.

The Mumbai-born former managing director of Intel had pleaded guilty to passing confidential information about the firm to now-jailed hedge fund founder Rajaratnam.

Goel, 54, had pleaded guilty in 2010 to conspiracy and securities fraud, after his arrest in October 2009, but was given a light punishment as his cooperation turned out to be a crucial factor in the case.

In court yesterday, he said he had a serious "lapse of judgement and good sense" while indulging in the actions, a report in the Wall Street Journal said.

Apologising for his actions he said he was particularly sorry to his wife and children who "have been devastated by the trauma and grief."

The court filing said Goel had admitted to his action and started working with investigators even before the government agreed to make him an official cooperator.

US District Judge Barbara Jones said he had the "good sense" to cooperate and that this type of cooperation was "essential" in complicated white-collar-crime investigations.

Goel was friends with Rajaratnam from their time together at the Wharton School of Business.

He was one of three main government witnesses who had agreed to cooperate and had testified against the Sri Lankan billionaire in his trial last year.

Recommending a lenient sentence, Attorney Preet Bharara had in a letter to Jones said that Goel was a "highly significant witness" who helped the government secure a conviction in one of the most significant and high-profile insider trading trials in history.