Monday, October 29, 2012

And Now For Something Completely Different: Gupta - Help Me, Rwanda



NY Magazine’s Jessica Presseler writes :Lawyers for Rajat Gupta, the former McKinsey managing director and Goldman Sachs board member convicted of insider trading, made an unusual request as he awaited his sentencing. Rather than jail time, they suggested, their client should be given a stint of community service in Rwanda, working “to ensure that the needs to end HIV, malaria, extreme poverty, and food security are implemented.” The request was accompanied by a letter from Rwanda’s minister of justice promising close supervision of the felon and urging the court’s support for a “rare, unique” alternative that “might provide future precedent to other situations of similar nature.” In fact, that precedent already exists.

Gupta is not the first disgraced Goldmanite to seek rehabilitation in the African nation, best known for the 1994 genocide that claimed more than 1 million lives. Earlier this year, it emerged that Goldman vice-president Fabrice Tourre, who was accused by the SEC of defrauding investors in one of the most high-profile cases of the financial crisis, had been spending time living in Kigali, Rwanda, and volunteering for a nongovernmental organization there. As he prepares to go on trial next year, the image of the young banker squatting on the ground, being taught to knit by locals, could serve a redemptive purpose…..


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