Former Goldman Sachs banker Brijesh Goel's trial on insider trading charges has concluded, with his attorney claiming that his friend framed him, while the prosecutor argued that Goel had lied to a New York jury. Goel, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs, is accused of securities fraud, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice for allegedly providing insider information to his friend Akshay Niranjan regarding potential deals the bank was considering funding in 2017 and 2018. Prosecutors assert that Goel obtained this information from internal Goldman emails and shared it with Niranjan during their squash games. Niranjan, a former trader at Barclays, testified during the trial that he acted upon the information provided by Goel and agreed to split approximately $280,000 in profits. In exchange for cooperating with the case, including recording conversations with Goel, prosecutors agreed not to charge Niranjan. Barclays declined to comment, while a Goldman Sachs spokesperson referred to Goel's alleged behavior as "egregious" and stated that the bank is cooperating with authorities.
