Sandipan Deb's account lacks the feel of ringside action but provides a good understanding of the world and motives of this Indian poster boy
First things first. Sandipan Deb, the writer of Fallen Angel, does not appear to have stalked the courtrooms and the boardrooms where the drama that led to the conviction of former McKinsey chief, Rajat Gupta, played out.
And, thus, the book does not quite convey the impression it was written with a ringside view of the arena where the action took place, mostly off and on Wall Street, New York.
In doing so, the book gives you a good understanding of the world that Gupta and his friends inhabited and the likely motivations for doing what they were accused of. And then, more importantly, leads us to some larger questions that any leader should ponder while ascending the ladder of success.
A quick recap. Gupta, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Harvard Business School graduate, was investigated and then sentenced for securities fraud and insider trading in October 2012. The investigation was based on a battery of evidence going back several years, one clinching piece being wiretaps on Gupta's associate Raj Rajaratnam, stock trader and founder of the Galleon Fund to whom Gupta seemingly passed on sensitive information from board meetings of Goldman Sachs, on the board of which he sat. Notably, the investigation against Gupta was led by an Indian-born prosecutor, Preet Bharara.
One thing that jumps out is that there is no direct evidence that Gupta benefited, certainly not monetarily, from the information he passed on to Rajaratnam. Instead, he seemed to be ingratiating himself with Rajaratnam for future favours. A taped conversation between Rajaratnam and Gupta is reproduced at the end of the book. And you should save it for the end.
You also discover that Gupta is not the only well-heeled Indian to be shamed in this insider trading case that swept across the Street. Another McKinsey colleague, Anil Kumar, figures prominently. A self-explanatory chapter titled "The One That Got Away" says why. The IIT, Imperial College, Wharton grad sang like a canary and told the courts how he had been led astray "by an overweight Sri Lankan-origin criminal".
The book, thus, brings together in one place the merry lives of a host of Indian achievers, the same ones that were toasted and celebrated in the Indian media for more than a decade.
And that brings us to the disturbing questions the book does well to raise and partly address.
The key one to my mind is: Who really is Rajat Gupta ? Is he the man who changed (or tried to) the world or a megalomanical fraudster who had also built a smart veneer of respectability because the latter was necessary for the former ?
Throughout their respective testimonials, Gupta and Kumar are portrayed as exemplary citizens of the globe, doing their utmost to improve the lot of the underprivileged. Gupta helped set up educational institutions like the Indian School of Business, gave important strategic advice to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and devised a campaign to fight malaria with the United Nations. He also worked with Indian NGO Pratham, which was set up in 1994 to provide education to slum children in Mumbai, and has since expanded considerably.
And then, the same Gupta is in a conversation with Rajaratnam where he's clearly reaching out to the latter to secure a position and a role that would be vastly remunerative. Indeed, the hold that Rajaratnam seems to have on Gupta is disconcerting to read - a point Deb highlights as well.
The jury ruled that Gupta was guilty. United States District Judge Jed S Rakoff rounded up by saying, "He is a good man. But the history of this country and the history of the world is full of examples of good men who did bad things."
Gupta even offered to go to Rwanda and do community service but the judge dismissed the offer saying if the description of his charitable endeavours were at all accurate, he could be counted on to "devote himself to community service when he finishes any prison term".
Gupta's friends tried hard to save him. Their perceptions of him are chronicled in a website called www.friendsofrajat.com and include Mukesh Ambani and Adi Godrej. There's even an open letter signed by pretty much the who's who of Indian industry.
This does not quite the answer the question: who is Rajat Gupta? But you do wonder about things like the very definition of success or, for that matter, legacy. So what if Gupta passed on some information? Don't his contributions to society matter more when it comes to judging the man? Don't those contributions define the man rather than an insider trading impropriety?
Put another way, is it the way of life - in order to do good, you might have to do some bad too - that is being judged? Remember that the "bad" as viewed by aggressive US government prosecutors is part of daily existence in stock markets like India. And maybe he was targeted for being an immigrant.
Is he guilty, then? Well, you should judge for yourself. The author gives you as much material as you could possibly ask for.
I would, however, say that a book that has Gupta's post-arrest mugshot with front and side profiles on the cover gives you some sense of the tilt. It's surely not the book he would have wanted written about him.
FALLEN ANGEL,
THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF RAJAT GUPTA
Author: Sandipan Deb
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 242
Price: Rs 295
First things first. Sandipan Deb, the writer of Fallen Angel, does not appear to have stalked the courtrooms and the boardrooms where the drama that led to the conviction of former McKinsey chief, Rajat Gupta, played out.
And, thus, the book does not quite convey the impression it was written with a ringside view of the arena where the action took place, mostly off and on Wall Street, New York.
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But to be fair, the missing light and sound of courtroom drama does not take away from the point of it. Actually, Fallen Angel, The Making & Unmaking of Rajat Gupta, is a sharp, well-researched narrative of the sequence of events that culminated in the sentencing of the legend that is or, indeed, was Rajat Gupta.
In doing so, the book gives you a good understanding of the world that Gupta and his friends inhabited and the likely motivations for doing what they were accused of. And then, more importantly, leads us to some larger questions that any leader should ponder while ascending the ladder of success.
A quick recap. Gupta, an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Harvard Business School graduate, was investigated and then sentenced for securities fraud and insider trading in October 2012. The investigation was based on a battery of evidence going back several years, one clinching piece being wiretaps on Gupta's associate Raj Rajaratnam, stock trader and founder of the Galleon Fund to whom Gupta seemingly passed on sensitive information from board meetings of Goldman Sachs, on the board of which he sat. Notably, the investigation against Gupta was led by an Indian-born prosecutor, Preet Bharara.
One thing that jumps out is that there is no direct evidence that Gupta benefited, certainly not monetarily, from the information he passed on to Rajaratnam. Instead, he seemed to be ingratiating himself with Rajaratnam for future favours. A taped conversation between Rajaratnam and Gupta is reproduced at the end of the book. And you should save it for the end.
You also discover that Gupta is not the only well-heeled Indian to be shamed in this insider trading case that swept across the Street. Another McKinsey colleague, Anil Kumar, figures prominently. A self-explanatory chapter titled "The One That Got Away" says why. The IIT, Imperial College, Wharton grad sang like a canary and told the courts how he had been led astray "by an overweight Sri Lankan-origin criminal".
The book, thus, brings together in one place the merry lives of a host of Indian achievers, the same ones that were toasted and celebrated in the Indian media for more than a decade.
And that brings us to the disturbing questions the book does well to raise and partly address.
The key one to my mind is: Who really is Rajat Gupta ? Is he the man who changed (or tried to) the world or a megalomanical fraudster who had also built a smart veneer of respectability because the latter was necessary for the former ?
Throughout their respective testimonials, Gupta and Kumar are portrayed as exemplary citizens of the globe, doing their utmost to improve the lot of the underprivileged. Gupta helped set up educational institutions like the Indian School of Business, gave important strategic advice to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and devised a campaign to fight malaria with the United Nations. He also worked with Indian NGO Pratham, which was set up in 1994 to provide education to slum children in Mumbai, and has since expanded considerably.
And then, the same Gupta is in a conversation with Rajaratnam where he's clearly reaching out to the latter to secure a position and a role that would be vastly remunerative. Indeed, the hold that Rajaratnam seems to have on Gupta is disconcerting to read - a point Deb highlights as well.
The jury ruled that Gupta was guilty. United States District Judge Jed S Rakoff rounded up by saying, "He is a good man. But the history of this country and the history of the world is full of examples of good men who did bad things."
Gupta even offered to go to Rwanda and do community service but the judge dismissed the offer saying if the description of his charitable endeavours were at all accurate, he could be counted on to "devote himself to community service when he finishes any prison term".
Gupta's friends tried hard to save him. Their perceptions of him are chronicled in a website called www.friendsofrajat.com and include Mukesh Ambani and Adi Godrej. There's even an open letter signed by pretty much the who's who of Indian industry.
This does not quite the answer the question: who is Rajat Gupta? But you do wonder about things like the very definition of success or, for that matter, legacy. So what if Gupta passed on some information? Don't his contributions to society matter more when it comes to judging the man? Don't those contributions define the man rather than an insider trading impropriety?
Put another way, is it the way of life - in order to do good, you might have to do some bad too - that is being judged? Remember that the "bad" as viewed by aggressive US government prosecutors is part of daily existence in stock markets like India. And maybe he was targeted for being an immigrant.
Is he guilty, then? Well, you should judge for yourself. The author gives you as much material as you could possibly ask for.
I would, however, say that a book that has Gupta's post-arrest mugshot with front and side profiles on the cover gives you some sense of the tilt. It's surely not the book he would have wanted written about him.
FALLEN ANGEL,
THE MAKING AND UNMAKING OF RAJAT GUPTA
Author: Sandipan Deb
Publisher: Rupa
Pages: 242
Price: Rs 295