Robert M. Freeman
Robert M. Freeman | |
|---|---|
| Born | circa 1943 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Former stockbroker |
| Known for | Former partner at Goldman Sachs, insider trading conviction |
Robert M. Freeman (born circa 1943) is an American former stockbroker and convicted felon who once held a partnership position at Goldman Sachs & Co.. In 1989, Freeman acknowledged engaging in insider trading and entered a guilty plea for mail fraud.
Serving as Goldman Sachs' head of arbitrage, Freeman became involved in an insider trading investigation in 1986, leading to his arrest in February 1987. The prosecution, led by then-U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, revealed that Freeman passed confidential information to Martin A. Siegel of Kidder, Peabody, which subsequently reached Ivan Boesky. Freeman admitted guilt on one count of mail fraud and was sentenced to four months in federal incarceration.
By 1993, Freeman consented to a three-year ban from participating in the securities sector as part of an agreement with the SEC and forfeited $1.1 million connected to the 1986 leveraged acquisition of Beatrice Companies Inc. by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.
In 2011, New York Times blogger William D. Cohan characterized Freeman as a casualty of a prosecutorial "witch hunt," contending that his mail fraud conviction did not pertain to insider trading activities. Conversely, Jonathan Bernstein of Seeking Alpha disputed this perspective, describing Freeman as a "guilty bystander" whose conviction was indeed linked to insider trading offenses.