Ex-Goldman Sachs boss Rajat Gupta begins prison term

Rajat Gupta, centre, leaves court in New York after being sentenced for passing on secrets (Getty Images)

A former Goldman Sachs director has begun to serve a two-year prison sentence after being found guilty in one of the biggest insider trading scandals on Wall Street.

Rajat Gupta, 65, reported to FMC Devens, a minimum security medical facility and satellite camp in Ayer, Massachusetts, on Tuesday after losing a two-year long legal battle to clear his name.

The disgraced financier also faces a $13.9 million fine and a permanent ban from acting as a public company officer after a US court of appeal rejected his claim that the punishment was excessive.

In his criminal case in June 2012, Gupta was also ordered to pay a $5 million fine and $6 million in restitution to Goldman.

Gupta was convicted of feeding confidential information he obtained at Goldman board meetings to billionaire Raj Rajaratna, who ran Galleon Group, the hedge fund at the centre of the scandal, until 2009.

Rajarathnam is also serving time for insider trading after being sentenced to 11 years in prison on 14 counts of securities fraud and conspiracy in 2011.