McKinsey Ex-Partner Pleads Guilty to Insider Trading Before Goldman Deal

(Bloomberg) -- A McKinsey & Co. partner who advised Goldman Sachs Group Inc. on its impending acquisition of GreenSky Inc. pleaded guilty to using inside information about the deal to make $450,000 from illegal trades.

Puneet Dikshit, 40, pleaded guilty to a single count of securities fraud in Manhattan federal court Wednesday, according to a statement by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. 

Dikshit bought short-term GreenSky options before the bank’s Sept. 15 announcement that it planned to acquire the financial technology company for about $2.24 billion, and he then sold the options when shares soared on news of the deal, prosecutors said.  

Dikshit faces as long as 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced March 30, though he’s likely to receive much less time behind bars. His lawyer didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

McKinsey said last month that the firm had fired Dikshit for a “gross violation” of its policies and code of conduct.

According to prosecutors, Goldman hired McKinsey in late 2019 to consult on its planned acquisition of GreenSky, which sells technology that allows banks and merchants to make “buy-now-pay-later” loans to consumers at the point of sale, and the eventual integration of the company into the bank’s holdings. Dikshit, who led McKinsey’s unsecured lending practice in New York, was one of the lead McKinsey partners assigned to the deal.

The consultant made his trades using an account in his name and one in his spouse’s name, according to the SEC. Evidence of Dikshit’s insider trading was found on his work computer, prosecutors said. On the day before the GreenSky deal was announced, Dikshit used Google to search: “what happens to options when company is acquired” and “greensky market cap.” He also used it to check his broker’s web page for information about $10 GreenSky call options, the government said.

The case is U.S. v. Dikshit, 21-cr-00760, U.S. District Court Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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