Gupta sentencing memos: feds seeking 97 to 121 months in prison, defense requesting probation and "rigorous community service"

This new Wall Street Journal article, headlined "Prosecutors Seek as Much as Decade in Prison for Gupta," reports on the sentencing advocacy appearing in the sentencing memoranda filed today for next week's scheduled sentencing of Rajat Gupta.  Here are the particulars:

Rajat Gupta, once part of the upper echelons of American business and a former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. director, should spend as much as the next decade of his life behind bars after he was convicted of insider trading earlier this year, prosecutors said.

However, lawyers for Mr. Gupta, the most prominent figure caught up in the government's broad crackdown on insider trading, said the 63-year-old should instead receive no time in jail and "rigorous community service." More than 70 people have been convicted or pleaded guilty in the government's probe.

A former director at Goldman and Procter & Gamble Co., Mr. Gupta was convicted of three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy for allegedly passing along corporate secrets he learned in the boardroom about Goldman to hedge-fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, whose fund made millions of dollars trading on his tips. He was acquitted of two fraud charges....

"Gupta's crimes are shocking," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Tarlowe in a court filing Wednesday. "Gupta had achieved extraordinary personal and professional success and was at the pinnacle of a profession built on protecting client confidences."... The government asked for a sentence between eight years and 1 month to 10 years and one month in prison....

Gary Naftalis, a lawyer for Mr. Gupta, argued in a court filing that he should face a less onerous sentence, saying the alleged conduct was an aberration and his client has been a upstanding member of the community, contributing to causes ranging from education to treating infectious diseases in the developing world....

"The convictions in this case represent an utter aberration in the life of the man before the Court — a man whose 'personal history and characteristics' are dramatically different from those routinely presented to sentencing courts in white collar cases," Mr. Naftalis said in a court filing....

Mr. Naftalis suggested the Mr. Gupta receive a sentence of probation and be ordered to engage in a full-time program of community service, ranging from working with a U.S. agency that provides emergency shelters and other services for the homeless and at-risk youth to working with Rwanda's government and an international public-health organization to help improve that country's delivery of health care.

Federal sentencing law requires judges to consider and balance a variety of factors, including guidelines for the length of prison terms, the size of the crime, the character and history of the defendant and the need to deter him or her and the public in general from crime in the future.

In Mr. Gupta's case, the judge is likely to consider the defense's arguments that Mr. Gupta has been a model member of society, participating in philanthropic endeavors around the world for years and a dedicated family-man despite his demanding career.

If/when I can find these filings available on-line, I will post them (and maybe even add a few comments). Even before giving them a read, I will (boldly?) predict that Judge Rakoff will impose a sentence somewhere between these recommendations. I will even set my current betting-line over/under at two years in prison, though that might change based on the forces of the sentencing memos.

Related posts on upcoming Gupta sentencing:

• Any early federal sentencing predictions after quick conviction in Gupta insider trading case?
• Interesting commentary on upcoming Gupta sentencing for insider trading
• Rajat Gupta hoping to get by (federal sentencing) with a little help from his friends
• Gearing up for high-profile sentencing of high-profile insider trading defendant
• Might it hurt Rajat Gupta to get sentencing support letters from the 1%?
• "Rajat Gupta Should Walk Free Wednesday"

 

UPDATE:  A wonderful reader sent me this link where both sentencing memos in US v. Gupta can be found.