New York: India-born federal prosecutor Preet Bharara, who was at the centre of a raging controversy with his overzealous approach in the Devyani Khobragade case, has added another victory to his unbroken record of securing 78 convictions with the scalp of Indian-origin portfolio manager Mathew Martoma.
Martoma, 39, was found guilty by a federal jury yesterday for his participation in the most lucrative insider trading scheme in US history involving USD 275 million involving information about clinical trials for an Alzheimer’s drug.
Bharara and his office was in the limelight in December with the arrest of 39-year-old Khobragade, Deputy Consul General of India in New York, in an alleged visa fraud case which had led to an uproar in India over the treatment meted out to her.
Bharara has so far had a perfect score, securing guilty pleas or conviction for all the 79 insider trading cases prosecuted during his tenure as US attorney for the Southern District of New York.
The son of immigrant parents from India, Martoma is the 79th person convicted on charges of insider trading brought by Bharara’s office.
Fifty-eight of the 79 individuals have been sentenced, including prominent Wall Street executives like ex-Goldman director Rajat Gupta and billionaire hedge fund founder Raj Rajaratnam. Ten other cases are still pending.
