Former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta has been handed a two year prison sentence after being found guilty of insider trading. The 63 year old was also ordered to pay $5m by US district judge Jed Rakoff, who labelled his crimes as 'disgusting' and 'a terrible breach of trust'.

Mr Gupta was convicted in Manhattan federal court last June for leaking Goldman Sachs boardroom secrets to Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund manager at the centre of a U.S. government crackdown on insider trading over the past four years.

The sentence is lenient compared to the eight to ten year jail term US prosecutors were seeking. Gupta's crimes amounted to 20 years in prison for securities fraud and five years for conspiracy. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan were among the 400 or so associates of Mr Gupta who urged leniency in the case based on Gupta's commitment to charity work.

Gupta's lawyer, Gary Naftalis, made a short statement about his client outside the courthouse.

"Our only comment is that I believe strongly in Gupta's innocence and we will be pursuing our appeal."

The US bureau of prisons has yet to decide where Gupta will be incarcerated. His sentence begins on 8January next year.

Written and presented by Alfred Joyner