By Lawrence Hurley
–WASHINGTON
he U.S. Supreme Court
on April 20 left intact the
2012 insider trading con-
viction of former
Goldman Sachs Group
Inc(GS.N) director Rajat Gupta.
Gupta is the highest-ranking
corporate official to be convicted
in the U.S. government’s multi-
year probe of insider trading in
the hedge fund industry. The
high court rejected Gupta’s
appeal of a March 2014 ruling by
the NewYork-based 2nd U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals that had
upheld his conviction.
The government used wiretap
evidence to show that Gupta
leaked news about Goldman’s
finances, including a crucial
investment by prominent
investorWarren Buffett’s
Berkshire Hathaway Inc, by
phone to Galleon Group hedge
fund founder Raj Rajaratnam.
Gupta, 66, is serving a two-
year prison sentence stemming
from his conviction. He was also
ordered to make $6 million in
restitution to Goldman and pay
a $5 million fine. Gupta is sched-
uled to be released from prison
in March 2016.
A jury convicted Gupta in
June 2012 of passing to
Rajaratnam confidential infor-
mation he learned from
Goldman board meetings,
including a crucial investment
by Buffett.
Rajaratnam is serving an 11-
year prison sentence. The
Supreme Court rejected his
appeal in June 2014.
In January, the Supreme
Court rejected Gupta’s separate
challenge to a permanent ban
from acting as a public company
officer.
The court then left intact a
June 2014 2nd U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals ruling upholding the
sanctions. In addition to the offi-
cer ban, Gupta was prohibited
from further violating securities
law and associating with bro-
kers, dealers or investment advi-
sors.
While Gupta’s appeals at the
Supreme Court have failed, he
launched a new challenge last
month to his conviction at the
lower court level before U.S.
District Judge Jed Rakoff, citing a
recent federal appellate court
ruling that has limited authori-
ties’ abilities to pursue insider
trading cases. The case on which
the court acted on April 20 was
Gupta v. U.S., U.S. Supreme
Court, No. 14-534
– Reuters
– that’s all you need to know
Community
News India Times
May 1, 2015
10
T
Alabama Cop Pleads Not Guilty to Assaulting Indian Grandfather
By Arun Kumar
–WASHINGTON
A
former Alabama police
officer has pleaded not
guilty to charges of using
“unreasonable force” against an
Indian grandfather who was left
partially paralyzed after being
slammed face-first to the
ground.
An unarmed Sureshbhai
Patel, 57, who does not speak
English, was allegedly assaulted
by Eric Parker Feb 6 while he was
taking a morning walk in front of
his son’s house in a Madison,
Alabama suburb.
Parker, 26, appeared before
U.S. Magistrate Harwell Davis in
federal court in Huntsville
Tuesday along with his attorney
Robert Tuten, who told the court
Parker was pleading not guilty,
according to AL.com
Davis ordered a $5,000 bond
for Parker. He faces a felony
charge carrying a maximum
sentence of 10 years in prison.
The federal case has been set for
June 1 trial.
Parker is facing a federal
charge of “deprivation of rights
under color of law,”
which US Attorney
JoyceWhite Vance
said includes the
right to be free from
“unreasonable
force.”
He has also plead-
ed not guilty to a
misdemeanor assault
charge in Limestone
County. That will be
handled in a separate court
appearance next month.
The Feb. 6 incident occurred
when Parker and another officer
arrived at the scene in response
to a call around 8 a.m. about a
suspicious person walking on
Hardiman Place Lane.
Patel had arrived in the U.S.
from his hometown Pij in
Gujarat about a week earlier to
help care for his 17-
month-old grand-
son, according to
his son Chirag Patel,
an engineer for a
government con-
tractor.
A video from a
dashboard camera
shows Parker and
another officer con-
front Patel. At one
point, Parker slams Patel to the
ground. Patel, who was left part-
ly paralyzed, underwent spinal
surgery at Huntsville Hospital.
He faces a long road to recovery.
After 10 days in the hospital
and six weeks of in-patient
rehab and therapy, Patel was
released on March 30. He is still
learning to walk again.
Madison Police Chief Larry
Muncey said April 21 Parker,
who is currently on paid admin-
istrative leave, has challenged
his termination. His employ-
ment appeal will go before a
hearing officer following the res-
olution of his criminal case.
Hank Sherrod, the attorney
for Patel, filed a civil lawsuit
against Parker and against the
City of Madison. But on March
24, U.S. District Judge Inge
Johnson stayed the lawsuit
pending the criminal proceed-
ings against Parker.
– IANS
2 Convicted for Double
Homicide in California
From News Dispatches
T
wo California 21-year-olds
were convicted earlier this
month of killing two men
in an August 2013 “ambush-
style” attack.
Richard Singh and Jordan
Killens, both of
Seaside, faced a
week of prosecutor-
ial evidence after
which jury deliber-
ated for less than a
day before render-
ing a guilty deci-
sion. The duo now
faces the possibility
of life in prison
without the possi-
bility of parole.
The jury found the murders
were accomplished with the use
of firearms and by lying-in-wait,
a special circumstance that
increases the penalty to life in
prison without the possibility of
parole.
On Aug. 11, 2013, Monterey
County sheriff’s deputies found
22-year-old Navneal Singh, no
relation to Richard Singh, and
23-year-old Demetrius Safford,
both of Sacramento, California,
dead in Aromas, California. Both
men sustained several gunshot
wounds to the back, The
Californian reported.
Eventually, the case went
cold, but last year, Monterey
County Sheriff’s
Detective Martin
Opseth was
assigned to re-evalu-
ate the evidence and
consider new possi-
bilities.
Richard Singh
was first arrested in
March 2014, but was
later released based
on insufficient evi-
dence.
Ultimately, it was about a year
before detectives gathered
enough evidence to make an
arrest stick. Richard Singh was
re-arrested in July 2014. Killens
was arrested a month later on
the anniversary of Navneal
Singh’s and Safford’s deaths.
The two will be sentenced on
June 3.
Supreme Court Rejects Rajat Gupta’s Insider Trading Appeal
Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc
board member Rajat Gupta departs
Manhattan Federal Court after being
sentenced in New York, Oct. 24, 2012.
Community Unites to Clean
Gang Graffiti Targeting Dallas Temple
Residents of the Old Lake Highlands neighborhood in
Dallas joined members of the North Texas Hindu
Mandir April 18 to clean the graffiti spray painted on
the temple by vandals last week. Neighbors and
community members brought cleaning supplies and
joined their fellow Hindu Americans to bring the temple
back to its original state by painting over the violent
gang symbols and other hateful messages, a Hindu
American Foundation (HAF) press release said. This is
the first attack on the temple since its founding in
2002. Temple officials told HAF they would soon add
surveillance cameras and construct a fence to ensure
to temple’s safety and security.
Sureshbhai Patel
Eric Parker
Richard Singh
Reuters
