New York: Brijesh Goyal, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker, has been indicted by a New York jury on insider trading and obstruction of justice after prosecutors said he made tips about a possible merger to a friend.
Goyal, 38, was convicted on Wednesday after a seven-day trial of passing on information about Goldman deals to former Barclays Plc trader Akshay Niranjan, which resulted in illegal profits totaling about $280,000.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York announced that he would be sentenced on October 19.
Attorney Damian Williams said, “Brijesh Goyal, a senior banker at a leading investment bank, betrayed his employer’s trust and illegally shared inside information with his squash partner in an agreement to trade on that information.”
According to statements made in the indictment, public court proceedings and filings, and evidence at trial, Goyal received confidential, internal emails directed to Goldman Sachs’ firmwide Capital Committee and Credit Markets Capital Committee.
It included detailed information and analysis about potential merger-and-acquisition transactions Goldman Sachs was considering financing.
In violation of his obligations to Goldman Sachs, Goyal misused that confidential information and revealed the names of potential target companies from those internal emails to Niranjan, who worked at another investment bank in New York, during in-person meetings.
Niranjan used the confidential information provided by Goyal to trade call options, including short-dated, out-of-the-money call options, in brokerage accounts that were in the name of Niranjan’s brother.
The lawyer said, Goyal and Niranjan agreed to split the profits from their business.
Around 2017 and 2018, Goyal passed on information to Niranjan about at least six deals involving Goldman Sachs.
According to Bloomberg, after Niranjan made illegal profits of approximately $280,000 using the information, the latter attacked his friend Goyal.
Niranjan recorded their conversations and cooperated with federal investigators before taking the stand at Goyal’s trial in Manhattan federal court.
The trial, which began on June 12, paints a fascinating picture of Wall Street’s close friendship amid the federal investigation, Bloomberg reported.
According to Goyal’s lawyers, this was the “ultimate betrayal”.
In his defence, Goyal said that Niranjan had set him up, but the jurors rejected his attempt to explain his side.
Between approximately May and June 2022, Goyal also obstructed investigations by a grand jury in the Southern District of New York and the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Specifically, he asked Niranjan to delete electronic communications regarding the insider trading plan, including during an in-person meeting that Niranjan had consensually recorded.
Goyal was convicted on four counts of securities fraud and one count of obstruction of justice, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and tender offer fraud, In which there is a provision of maximum punishment. Five years jail.
“Today’s decision should serve as a reminder to those in the capital markets that if you engage in insider trading, we will hold you and hold you accountable,” Attorney Williams said.
Goyal may now face jail and deportation to India.