And then he ran into Preet...while Theo ran into the Swedes

Two unrelated topics on my little domain today. But since they relate to NRIs (Non Resident Indians) ex P&Gers and Arsenal, I thought I should combine two stories into one. First - about yesterday's conviction of Rajat Gupta and the second about Theo Walcott and his incredible double act from the English victory at the Euro cup. My story actually starts in India. Rajat Gupta was born in Calcutta in 1948.Preet Bharara was born exactly two decades later and almost 2000 kilometers away in Ferozepur, Punjab. RG as we shall call him for the rest of the story (lazy me!) then went on to study and work at the most elite institutions ever - Modern School, Delhi, IIT- Delhi (15th rank All India in the JEE, to those that know the JEE, a remarkable achievement by any standards), Harvard Business School and then McKinsey. Just on the side I realized that RG and I have one thing in common. He rejected a job offer from ITC to go to HBS. I resigned from ITC to do my MBA (not at HBS!). He then went on to head up McKinsey globally and is often referred to as the first Indian CEO at a global firm. The list of his achievements could go on and on. But then, Wall Street greed comes knocking. More about that in a bit. Preet Bharara (PB) had a less colorful start to his education and career. Having migrated to the US and having taken up US citizenship when we has 12, PB had to struggle through school but ended up with stellar legal education at Harvard and Columbia Business School. And then Black Monday happened. On October 17, 1987 the world stock markets tanked. A 22% drop in the US markets on a single day. Two guys from Harvard were preparing to present their daily news proram on a student radio station 95.3 WHRB. As the stock market story began to unfold, these two amateur radio jockeys started to understand more about the volatility of the stock market and the greed that dominated Wall Street. And they later concluded that all this greed if went unpunished would be a terrible disservice to justice. One of those Radio Jockeys was Preet. He would later go on to (mis)quote from Olivier stone's Wall Street - "Greed is not good". And then Greed comes calling to RG's domain. Like in Dante's classic Purgatario, it seems like 2008 was the entrance to the fifth terrace for RG. If records are to be believed, RG was given more than 80,000 options at Genpact for private practice - something McKinsey leaders were (and are) prohibited to do. While many at the legendary consulting firm, known for it's conservatory practices, despised their CEO for throwing caution in the wind, there was more greed to come. RG went on to become one of the founding leaders at the New Silk Route investment fund, that had on it's board many (now) infamous names like Raj Rajaratnam and Aniline Kumar (who have both been found guilty of insider trading). And the rest is for all of us to read in today's press. I.e. greed colliding with the justice provider. Two other factors gave Rajat Gupta no standing chance in this case. Judge Jed and the US legal position on conspiracy. Preet who in his current role as US attorney for the southern district of New York had previously a blemishless record (58-0, for those pub quizzers out there) against white collar insider traders. He had taken on the Italian mafia, Internet fraudsters and the online gambling nexus. However the courtroom where the case was taking place was the den of Judge Jed Rakoff. He had previously successfully led the Worldcom bust trial and also convicted Citigroup and Bank of America. With a hardliner against white collar leading the court, RG did not stand a chance. Importantly, the US justice system defined conspiracy to 'take part' in insider as a crime - even though the person handing out tips never made money or the person receiving the tip never acted on the tipster's feedback. So even if RG never made money on the so called Goldman Buffet tip or Rajaratnam never acted on RGs tip (highly unlikely given Raj's history), Preet and his prosectors had to just prove that RG had passed on insider information. So in summary, I can never conclude whether RG broke the law or whether he was a criminal. The legal system has brought him to his knees. As an Indian, I am saddened. One of my close friends who is a McKinsey insider also highlighted how the Indian group at the consultancy has had some negative rub off of the RG trial. But this will reaffirm the view that you can only fool some people some of the time. Amen. After that long winding piece...woohoo....last night the English won an absolute thriller against the Swedes. Arsenal striker Theo came off the bench, touched the ball for exactly 17 seconds, scored a beauty to level the tie and then assisted for Young to score in a not so beautiful winner. So England still on for holding aloft the Cup at Wembley but the boys and gals at William Hill back a Spain Germany final.

http://sports.williamhill.com/bet/en-gb/betting/e/3008666/Greece-v-Russia.html