US judge OKs wiretap evidence in Gupta insider trial

A US judge said he will allow prosecutors to play recordings of wiretapped phone conversations in the insider trading trial of former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta. Judge Jed Rakoff's ruling, made public in court papers Tuesday, was a blow to Gupta, whose scheduled May 21 criminal trial will be a major step in New York federal prosecutors' ongoing crackdown against insider trading. Gupta's lawyers had sought to suppress the government wiretaps. The former Goldman Sachs director and former partner at McKinsey & Co is accused of passing inside tips to his friend and convicted insider trader Raj Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam, founder of the Galleon hedge fund, was convicted in 2011 and is serving an 11-year sentence, the longest handed down in the United States for insider trading. Rakoff also ruled that Gupta's attorneys can have another two hours to question current Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein in a parallel civil lawsuit against Gupta by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Gupta denies any involvement in insider trading.