By Chad Bray
- iStock
Newly discovered emails and instant messages uncovered by prosecutors earlier this month revealed at least one additional alleged tip between former Procter & Gamble Co. board member Rajat Gupta and hedge-fund founder Raj Rajaratnam, according to a letter made public Monday.
In a court filing last week, federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged that Gupta disclosed to Rajaratnam, founder of hedge-fund firm Galleon Group, material nonpublic information about P&G’s organic sales forecast for the October to December quarter, prior to its announcement in December 2008.
According to the letter made public on Monday, prosecutors received a hard drive on April 5 containing additional emails and instant messages from Galleon. That information led to the new allegation, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors had previously alleged that Gupta also tipped Rajaratnam about P&G’s organic sales growth forecast prior to its announcement in January 2009.
“Although the government believes that there is evidence of additional tips from Gupta to Rajaratnam in furtherance of the charged conspiracy, the government does not intend at this time to offer evidence of such tips in its case-in-chief,” prosecutors said in last week’s filing.
If prosecutors decide to offer additional tips as evidence, they indicated they would notify Gupta’s lawyers no later than three weeks before his trial, which is scheduled to begin May 21.
Prosecutors have alleged that Gupta shared confidential corporate information with Rajaratnam while a member of the boards of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and P&G. Gupta has denied wrongdoing.
A lawyer for Gupta declined comment Monday.