(Bloomberg) - Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Brijesh Goel was released on $500,000 bail after being charged with insider trading.
Goel’s indictment was announced Monday by federal prosecutors in New York. He made his initial court appearance in San Francisco later in the day, where a magistrate judge ordered his release on an unsecured bond, according to a court filing. Other terms of his bail remain confidential.
Prosecutors accuse Goel, 37, of passing along information he received about potential Goldman deals to a friend and then splitting the trading profits. Goel worked at the investment bank from 2013 to 2021, rising to the position of vice president. Goldman on Monday condemned Goel’s alleged conduct and said it was cooperating with authorities.
Reed Brodsky, a lawyer for Goel, denied the allegations. “Sadly, the government rushed to charge Brijesh on the apparent say-so of one person about something that supposedly happened years ago before Brijesh’s current job -- without giving Brijesh the chance to speak with them,” Brodsky said. “Thankfully the judge and jury will not make that mistake, and Brijesh looks forward to demonstrating his innocence.”
According to a parallel Securities and Exchange Commission suit, Goel passed tips to a foreign exchange trader and longtime friend named Akshay Niranjan, 33, with whom he often played squash. Niranjan was also named in the civil case but was not criminally charged. Robert Anello, a lawyer for Niranjan, declined to comment.
Goel last year joined Apollo Global Management Inc. as a principal, but the asset management firm on Monday put him on indefinite leave after the charges were announced.
The case is US v. Goel, 22-cr-396, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
By Chris Dolmetsch and Joel Rosenblatt
