A former Barclays Plc foreign exchange trader testified that he lost his entire book in a single day, but that an insider tip from a buddy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. provided a respite from his professional pain.
(Bloomberg) — A former Barclays Plc foreign exchange trader testified that he lost his entire book in a single day, but that an insider tip from a buddy at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. provided a respite from his professional pain.
Akshay Niranjan described his Barclays losses under cross-examination Thursday in the insider-trading trial of former Goldman banker Brijesh Goel. Niranjan, the prosecution’s star witness, testified that his trading book was wiped out in May 2017. He also broke up with his fiancee and was thinking of leaving New York to return to his native India.
But that same month, a tip from Goel netted him $30,000, Niranjan said on the stand in Manhattan federal court. Amid all his other troubles at the time, that seemed like great news.
“But today, sitting here, it’s terrible news,” Niranjan testified. “It’s one of the worst days.”
Goel is charged with passing along tips about Goldman deals to Niranjan, who testified that he traded on the information and eventually made $280,000 in illegal profits. Niranjan eventually wore a wire and recorded his friend allegedly asking him to destroy evidence of their communications. The former Barclays trader was not charged.
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The questioning of Niranjan by Goel’s lawyer, Reed Brodsky, was aimed at undermining his prior testimony, but it also offered a partial explanation of why the two men, close friends and squash buddies with jobs at top banks would risk everything for an amount that seems a pittance by Wall Street standards.
Brodsky pressed Niranjan on his performance at Barclays. “You had spent months having a profit on your book,” the lawyer said.
“In one day at Barclays, I lost Barclays money,” Niranjan replied.
He said the $30,000 profit was from a bet on Patheon BV options. Goel had tipped him off that the company was going to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Niranjan testified.
Brodsky noted that one of the trades allegedly recommended by Goel involved Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., which was subsequently acquired by McDermott International Inc.
The defense lawyer pointed out that Barclays also advised on the transaction and presented evidence indicating that Niranjan had received a notice from his employer restricting trading in the stock.
“I don’t remember,” Niranjan said. “I was not brought over the wall with respect to this transaction.”
Niranjan’s cross examination continues Friday, and the government said it expects to rest its case by the end of the day.
The case is US v. Goel, 22-cr-00396, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)
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