An Indian-origin banker will plead guilty in regulatory leak case

An Indian-origin former Goldman Sachs banker, who is suspected of taking confidential documents from a government source, has agreed to plead guilty in a criminal action on Wall Street.

According to a report in the New York Times, Rohit Bansal and his source Jason Gross will accept a plea deal from federal prosecutors under which they would be imprisoned for up to one year.

At the time of the leak Gross worked as an employee at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Federal prosecutors are preparing to announce criminal charges this week against Gross and Bansal.

"The outcome partly reflects their low-level rank on Wall Street. Bansal, who was 29 at the time, was an associate at Goldman," the report said, adding the Federal Reserve is likely to permanently bar Bansal from the banking industry.

The report said that it is "rare" for a Wall Street banker to face criminal charges. Not a single Wall Street chief executive was charged after the financial crisis even as bankers or traders have faced charged in a few investigations.

Under a tentative deal with New York State's financial regulator, Goldman is expected to pay a 50 million dollar fine and face new restrictions on how it handled delicate regulatory information.

(Image: Indiatimes)