[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Rajat Gupta again appeared before the jury in 2 different guises during closing arguments of his 4-week trial.  On the one hand, the prosecution portrayed the former Goldman director as a "pipeline" for inside information.  On the other hand, his defense lawyers presented Gupta as victim subject to the government's falsely created "illusion" that he committed crimes that never happened.  In one of the trial's highlights, Mr. Naftalis attacked the truthfulness of Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who testified for the prosecution. Mr. Gupta, the former head of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., has pled not guilty to conspiracy and securities-fraud charges related to alleged tips to hedge-fund managerRaj Rajaratnam in 2008.  The case is expected to go to jurors on Thursday after U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff issues instructions to the jury on the law. Defense Arguments. Speaking to the relationship his client had to Rajaratnam, lead attorney Gary Naftalis said that Mr. Gupta had legitimate business reasons for speaking with Rajaratnam, who was convicted of insider trading last year.  Prosecutors' "parade of witnesses," none of whom had any direct knowledge of inside tips, "creates an illusion of making something out of nothing" in an effort to "bamboozle" the jury. "The stakes are much too high here for that kind of shabby information to suffice to take away something from somebody that matters more than anything else in the world," -- Mr. Naftalis, referring to Mr. Gupta's freedom. Blankfein Testimony: Worth Nothing. The CEO had testified for the government that he regularly apprised board members about the company's financial health but couldn't remember conversations from 4 years ago.  Specifically, he said he couldn't recall that on 10/23/08 – the day Mr. Gupta is accused of tipping Rajaratnam that Goldman would report its first quarterly loss as a public company – the WSJ reported the company planned to cut 10% of its work force and Mr. Blankfein sent a company-wide voice mail about the layoffs. Mr. Blankfein "falsely claims he can't even remember firing 3,000 people, as if he does it every day of the week," Mr. Naftalis said.  Thus, he concluded later, "you can find that Mr. Blankfein was being less than candid when he said he didn't remember firing these people.  I suggest to you no one can be that cold or callous that they couldn't remember firing more than 3,000 people."  If he couldn't remember that, the jury shouldn't believe his statements about what he might have told the board, he said: "This man remembers nothing.  That is what his testimony is worth." Other Leaks. In an effort to direct blame away from Mr. Gupta, the defense has contended that others at Goldman and P&G were more likely the sources of any tips, and that some of the information Mr. Gupta allegedly shared with Rajaratnam was public knowledge at the time.  His client, Mr. Naftalis said, never engaged in or benefited from any illegal trading: "There was no cash changing hands, no secret payoffs for information, no dirty dimes in Mr. Gupta's pocket.  Zero." Prosecution Arguments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Reed Brodsky said the defense's portrayal of Mr. Blankfein was "absurd" and called Mr. Naftalis's closing remarks a "mishmash."  Specifically, Mr. Brodsky called it "unbelievable" for the defense to suggest that the CEO of Goldman might not have been informing board members about the status of the company during the financial crisis. Furthermore, jurors would have to see Mr. Gupta as "one of the unluckiest men in the world" if they believed defense arguments that he never leaked inside information.  Here, he referred to a pattern of phone calls Mr. Gupta made to Rajaratnam after receiving confidential news in his board roles at Goldman and Procter & Gamble Co.  Those calls were followed by consistently profitable trades: "This is not a close case." The Evidence. The case against Mr. Gupta has been based largely on such phone and trading records – circumstantial evidence – instead than recordings or accounts of witnesses with direct knowledge of the former Goldman director providing the alleged tips. Trades. Yet, Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Tarlowe, another prosecutor, drew attention to a call between Mr. Gupta and Rajaratnam on 9/23/08, that was made within 60 seconds after hanging up on a Goldman board call approving a $5 billion investment by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc.  Rajaratnam's assistant testified that after Rajaratnam received an urgent call on his direct line, trading activity followed.  While she didn't remember who it was, Mr. Gupta, 63, was the only one who called Rajaratnam's direct line in the last 10 minutes of the trading day, Mr. Tarlowe said. On behalf of Rajaratnam, traders placed orders for $43 million in Goldman stock "before it was too late," toward almost $1 million in illicit profits, prosecutors said. "That evidence was devastating for the defendant." -- Mr. Tarlow. Mr. Naftalis has called prosecutors' effort to link the records with the trades pure speculation. For further details, go to [WSJ, 6/13/12].