Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former UN chief Kofi Annan have written to a US Judge in support of India-born Rajat Gupta, who will be sentenced on October 24 for insider trading, highlighting his philanthropic work.
Gupta, the most high-profile Wall Street executive convicted of insider trading, will be sentenced by the US District Judge, Jed Rakoff.
“I know most personally that the poor of the world have a profoundly capable and articulate advocate in Rajat Gupta,” Gates said in his letter.
The Microsoft founder said he had worked with Gupta when the Goldman executive had served as chair of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Gates said while he was “not in a position to comment on any of the particulars of the case against him,” he wanted to lend his voice “to round out Rajat’s profile as you consider the appropriate sentence for him.”
“Many millions of people are leading better lives - or are alive at all - thanks to the efforts he so ably supported,” Gates said in his letter.
The former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan said Gupta had worked on many projects with him, including one on management reform at the UN in which Gupta was an adviser.
“I came to respect his judgment, and we became good friends,” Annan said in his letter.
“I urge you to recognise Rajat for the good he has done in the world, to give him the credit that he deserves for helping others and to take into account his efforts to improve the lives of millions of people,” he said.