MADE ERRORS, ADMITS EXGOLDMAN SACHS DIRECTOR
GUPTA, AN IIT DELHI AND HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUMNUS, EXPRESSED REGRET FOR FAILING TO BE A ROLE MODEL TO SCORES OF YOUNG PEOPLE
India-born former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, who served a two-year prison term on insider trading charges, has admitted he made “errors and misjudgements” and apologised for letting his friends and fellow IIT associates down.
In one of his first public comments on his conviction after completing his prison term in March last year, Gupta told an IIT alumni meet in California he regrets that five years of his life were taken away from him and he hopes to tell his side of the story “in due course” once his appeal is decided upon.
“While I continue to fight the injustice in my case, I have to candidly admit that I made errors and misjudgements and for that I take full responsibility,” Gupta said, addressing the second annual IIT Bay Area Leadership Conference held in Santa Clara last month. The event was hosted by the 11,000-member strong IIT Bay Area Alumni Association and attended by top executives and entrepreneurs who had graduated from the prestigious Indian engineering institution.
Gupta, an IIT Delhi and Harvard Business School alumnus, expressed regret for failing to be a role model to the scores of young people in leading institutions he was associated with, including IIT, Harvard, Indian School of Business, McKinsey and Gates Foundation.
“They made me who I am and I was also fortunate enough to play a leadership role that shaped many of these institutions but most importantly I aspired to be a role model for many of the young people who were part of these institutions, who looked up to me.
“One of my greatest regrets is I did let them down. I want to apologise to all of you at IIT alumni that I really did not live up to the highest standards you would have rightly expected me to do. I genuinely ask for your forgiveness and understanding,” Gupta said.