Goldman Sachs

NEW YORK -- Rajat Gupta, a former director of Goldman Sachs, will spend two years in jail and an additional year on supervised release for his role in a sprawling insider-trading scheme on Wall Street. U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered Gupta to report to prison Dec. 11 and pay $5 million in fines. A jury convicted Gupta of securities fraud and conspiracy in June. Federal prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of as long as 10 years. Gupta's lawyers asked Rakoff for a term of community service, helping homeless youth in New York or rural poor in Rwanda.  Gupta is the highest-profile figure in the federal government's campaign against insider-trading, which Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, has called rampant on Wall Street.

NEW YORK -- Rajat Gupta, among the world's most prominent businessmen, may spend years in prison for his role in the Galleon Group insider-trading scheme. Or, Gupta may perform community service as punishment after a judge sentences him Wednesday on three counts of securities fraud and another of conspiracy. A jury convicted him in June. His lawyers have proposed sentencing him to work for a homeless youth shelter in New York or in Rwanda, helping improve health care and develop agriculture in rural areas.

Greg Smith appeared on "60 Minutes" on Sunday, stirring serious interest in his book "Why I Quit Goldman Sachs," which publishes today. Smith scored a book deal after writing an explosive New York Times op-ed after leaving the company. Smith spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs, starting as an intern and working his way up to a position as a vice president. "Why I Quit Goldman Sachs" is an indictment of the investment firm's corporate culture, which, in the end, Smith found intolerable.

NEW YORK -- The United States' credit rating and status as the world's reserve country would be threatened if the federal government doesn't resolve the "fiscal cliff" before automatic spending cuts and tax hikes kick in at the end of the year, Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein said Monday. Though Blankfein said he was optimistic that political leaders would reach a short-term deal after the November election and perhaps reach a compromise by the middle of next year, a solution was far from certain.

NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs' chief financial officer, who has been credited as among the most essential executives at the powerful Wall Street investment bank for helping it emerge strong from the financial crisis, is stepping down. David Viniar, a 32-year veteran of the bank, will retire at the end of January 2013 but will join the board as a non-independent director. His replacement: Harvey Schwartz, the bank's global co-head of the Securities Division, Goldman said in a statement at the end of the trading day in New York.

WASHINGTON - The Justice Department said it would not pursue criminal charges against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. or its employees related to allegations by a Senate panel that the bank deceived investors and Congress about its activities in the subprime mortgage market. After an “exhaustive review” that began last year, investigators “concluded that the burden of proof to bring a criminal case could not be met based on the law and facts as they exist at this time,” the Justice Department said in a statement released Thursday night.  The officials said they could change their minds “if any additional or new evidence emerges.” The investigation by officials from the Justice Department's Criminal Division, the U.S. attorney's office for the southern district of New York, the FBI and other agencies began after a scathing report regarding Goldman was issued in April 2011 by the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

Occidental Petroleum on Friday announced that former Goldman Sachs managing director Cynthia L. Walker will officially become an executive vice president and its chief financial officer on Aug 6. Walker, 35, in a 12-year stint with Goldman Sachs provided clients with strategic advice in high-profile energy industry transactions as a senior member of the Global Natural Resources Group located in Houston. Walker also served as a member of Goldman Sachs' Mergers and Acquisitions Group.

Moody's Investors Service slashed the credit ratings of more than a dozen giant global banks amid worries that Europe's economic turmoil could slow both profit and growth. The downgrades, announced after the close of U.S. financial markets Thursday, included Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. The move came as the 15 banks singled out by Moody's try to navigate through the European debt crisis, which could have a major effect on their trading businesses.

NEW YORK — The federal government took down the biggest Wall Streeter yet in its battle against insider trading: Rajat Gupta, a former director of Goldman Sachs who once headed powerful consulting firm McKinsey & Co. Gupta's conviction on securities fraud and conspiracy charges in federal court in Manhattan on Friday may embolden government efforts to weed out white-collar corruption using wiretaps, tools traditionally used against mobsters and...

A jury has convicted former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta in his high-profile insider-trading case in New York. A federal jury had been weighing Gupta's fate for two days. The jury of eight women and four men found Gupta guilty of four criminal counts in a wide government push against insider trading. Gupta was found guilty of three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy for leaking stock tips to Raj Rajaratnam, head of the Galleon Group hedge fund. He was acquitted on two counts of securities fraud.