A US District Court on Wednesday slapped former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta with a fine of $5 million plus a jail term of two years for insider trading crimes.

Indian-born Gupta, who currently lives in Westport, Connecticut, was ordered to surrender to federal prison authorities by 8th of January.

The Harvard-educated 63-year-old Gupta was found guilty of disclosing inside information about Goldman Sachs board dealings with one of his friends - Sri Lanka-born Raj Rajaratnam, the owner of a hedge fund.

Prosecutors had accused Gupta of tipping off Rajaratnam about billionaire investor Warren Buffett's plan to make an investment of $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. The tip allowed Rajaratnam to acquire stock in Goldman Sachs before the publication of news, and made a profit of $800,000 in merely 24 hours.

Preet Bharara, a U. S. attorney in Manhattan, said that Gupta's conduct had forever tarnished a reputation that consumed years to cultivate.

Commenting on the court's ruling, Bharara said, "We hope that others who might consider breaking the securities laws will take heed from this sad occasion and choose not to follow in Mr. Gupta's footsteps."

After graduating from Harvard Business School, he joined elite management consulting firm McKinsey. Gradually, he rose to boardrooms; he chaired non-profit boards, and moved with chief executives and heads of state from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton. After retiring from McKinsey in 2007, he joined boards of Goldman, Procter & Gamble, Harvard Business School, and American Airlines.