Ex-Goldman board member indicted

NEW YORK — A former board member of Goldman Sachs and Proctor & Gamble became the most prominent business executive arrested in the biggest insider trading case in history when a securities fraud indictment was unsealed against him Wednesday.

The indictment accuses Rajat Gupta of cheating the markets with Raj Rajaratnam, the convicted hedge fund founder who was the probe’s prime target.

Gupta, 62, of Westport, Conn., quietly surrendered early Wednesday at the FBI’s New York City office, located a few blocks north of the ongoing Occupy Wall Street demonstration against corporate greed. His lawyer called the allegations “totally baseless.”

He was awaiting an arraignment on one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud and five counts of securities fraud. The charges carry a potential penalty of 105 years in prison.

The indictment unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleges Gupta shared confidential information about both Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble at the height of the financial crisis from 2008 through January 2009, knowing that Rajaratnam would use the secrets to buy and sell stock ahead of public announcements.