NY prosecutors’ filings indicate plea imminent by former Intel exec in insider trading case
By APThursday, February 4, 2010
Path cleared for plea by former Intel executive
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors filed court papers Thursday indicating a former Intel executive charged in a massive insider trading case has agreed to waive indictment, a necessary step before a guilty plea can be entered.
The move clears the way for Rajiv Goel, 51, to join eight others who have already pleaded guilty in what authorities say is the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history. Goel’s lawyers, David Meister and David Zornow, declined to comment.
Goel was scheduled to appear at a hearing Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Among 21 people charged in the case is hedge fund operator Raj Rajaratnam, one of America’s richest men. Prosecutors say Rajaratnam may have gained more than $50 million through inside trades, though he has said through his lawyers that the charges are without merit and his trades were based on public information.
Goel was arrested in October on conspiracy and securities fraud charges alleging that he supplied secret details about Intel’s investments to Rajaratnam, who allegedly made a profit of $579,000 off the information and paid Goel through a personal brokerage account.
Goel, a resident of Los Altos, Calif., was a director of strategic investments at Intel Capital, the investment arm of Intel Corp., until he left the company before the end of last year. Goel remains free on $750,000 bail.
