Former Mckinsey Partner Sentenced To 24 Months In Prison For Insider Trading Scheme

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that PUNEET DIKSHIT, a former partner in McKinsey & Company, was sentenced today to 24 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon.  DIKSHIT pled guilty on December 15, 2021, to one count of securities fraud in connection with his scheme to commit insider trading based on material, nonpublic information regarding the upcoming public announcement that The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. – which DIKSHIT and McKinsey were advising – would be acquiring GreenSky, Inc. 

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said:  “With today’s sentence, Puneet Dikshit must face the consequences of his egregious crime.  We will continue to vigorously protect the integrity of our capital markets and hold accountable those who cheat by trading on inside information.  This conviction shows Wall Street and Main Street that corporate advisors who steal information entrusted to them and use it for their personal gain will be caught and prosecuted.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint and the Information, court filings, and statements made in public court proceedings:

GreenSky was a publicly traded financial technology company that provided technology to banks and merchants to make loans to consumers for home improvement, solar, healthcare, and other purposes.  GreenSky’s common stock traded under the symbol “GSKY” on the NASDAQ.

Between November 2019 and July 2020, and again between April 2021 and September 2021, Goldman Sachs, the investment bank, engaged McKinsey, the management consulting firm, to provide services related to the potential acquisition of GreenSky by Goldman Sachs and the post-acquisition integration of GreenSky.  DIKSHIT was one of the McKinsey partners leading these engagements.  In that role, he had access to material nonpublic information, which he misappropriated and, in violation of the duties that he owed to Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, used to trade GreenSky call options. 

DIKSHIT engaged in this trading between July 26 and September 15, 2021 – at the same time he was leading the McKinsey team that was advising Goldman Sachs about its potential acquisition of GreenSky.  At various times between July 26 and September 13, 2021, DIKSHIT purchased and sold relatively small numbers of GreenSky call options, which had expiration dates weeks or months from the time of purchase.  However, in the two days before the September 15, 2021, public announcement that Goldman Sachs would be acquiring GreenSky, DIKSHIT sold all of these longer-dated GreenSky call options and purchased approximately 2,500 out-of-the-money GreenSky call options that were due to expire just a few days later, on September 17, 2021.  After the deal to purchase GreenSky was announced on September 15, 2021, DIKSHIT sold these options and realized profits of approximately $450,000.

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In addition to his prison sentence, DIKSHIT, 41, of New York, New York, was ordered to pay forfeiture in the amount of $455,017.

Mr. Williams praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Mr. Williams further thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its assistance and cooperation in this investigation. 

This case is being handled by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force.  Assistant United States Attorneys Joshua A. Naftalis and Matthew Podolsky are in charge of the prosecution.