A big day for two Bengalis, on opposite sides of the planet

Rajat Gupta, who was born in Calcutta, and who went on to head the famed McKinsey, and served on quite a few prestigious corporate and non-profit boards, was found guilty of insider trading:

Count 1 – Conspiracy to commit securities fraud — Guilty
Count 2 – Securities Fraud – Not Guilty – Goldman Sachs ahead of the investment bank’s March 2007 earnings.
Count 3 – Securities Fraud – Guilty – Goldman Sachs ahead of Warren Buffett investing $5 billion.
Count 4 – Securities Fraud – Guilty – Goldman ahead of Buffett deal.
Count 5 – Securities Fraud – Guilty – Goldman Sachs ahead of its December 2008 earnings.
Count 6 – Securities Fraud – Not Guilty — Procter & Gamble ahead of its January 2009 earnings.
The conspiracy count carries a prison term of up to five years and a fine of at least $250,000. Each securities fraud count carries a maximum of 20 years and a fine of $5 million.

Not looking good for Gupta:

U.S. Atty. Preet Bharara has called trading on nonpublic inside information "rampant" on Wall Street.

"Having fallen from respected insider to convicted inside trader, Mr. Gupta has now exchanged the lofty boardroom for the prospect of a lowly jail cell," Bharara said.

 Bharara, as I noted before, was the attorney in the Raj Rajaratnam case, and all the people being of South Asian origin.  Not to forget the "Indian mafia!"

We people have truly arrived in the US, from technology to Wall Street to politics to prison time!

Meanwhile, on the other side of the planet, another Bengali is looking at an uptick in his fortunes:

India's ruling Congress party on Friday nominated Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for the largely ceremonial post of president, capping several days of dramatic negotiations that exposed a frail government coalition. Congress President Sonia Gandhi announced the party's decision, praising Mr. Mukherjee for a "long and distinguished career of public service" over more than four decades and urging all parties to back him.

It used to be said that Bengal was so ahead of everybody else that whatever happened in Bengal today happened elsewhere a few days after.  If that is true, then ... oh, maybe that is the end of the world that the Mayans predicted :)