Pat Roberts releases documents related to Greg Orman’s role in business associate's trial

U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts’ campaign went on the offensive against independent challenger Greg Orman this week, publishing court documents that it says show Orman’s credibility as a witness was questioned during the 2012 trial of his business associate Rajat Gupta for insider trading.

Orman’s connections to the former Goldman Sachs board member, currently serving a prison sentence for committing $18 million in securities fraud, have come under scrutiny in a tight race that could decide the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.

Orman’s campaign downplayed his role in Gupta’s trial last week, saying that although he was on the defense team’s witness list, he was never called to the stand.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported this week that the defense decided against putting Orman on the stand after his credibility as a witness was questioned by federal prosecutors.

The Roberts campaign then posted several court documents, which are public records, to the website therealorman.com.

In one of the documents, a June 2012 court transcript, federal prosecutor Reed Brodsky tells a judge that “Mr. Orman’s credibility can be challenged. Mr. Orman had a deep and long relationship with the defendant. Mr. Orman’s testimony is contradicted by other evidence.”

Ornan worked at McKinsey &. Co., the same consulting firm as Gupta, during the 1990s. They are co-owners of Exemplar Wealth Management, an Olathe-based accounting firm. Orman has maintained business ties with Gupta since the conviction.

Several court documents say that Exemplar managed Gupta’s money. Brodsky told Judge Jed Rakoff in January 2012 that “Mr. Orman oversees Gupta’s finances to a large extent.” Brodsky also said that Orman had spent hundreds of hours working with Gupta on his defense.

Jim Jonas, Orman’s campaign manager, said that Orman had no knowledge of his colleague’s transgressions before they became public and stressed that Orman was not the subject of the investigation. He also said that a prosecutor mischaracterized Orman’s role in suggesting he was involved in Gupta’s legal strategy.

In a statement, Jonas attacked the Roberts campaign for pushing the issue.

"Senator Roberts is waging an increasingly desperate, negative campaign to save his job in Washington DC. ... Greg's been completely clear and transparent about this from day 1: Mr. Gupta's a friend of Greg's, he made a mistake, and now he's paying for that mistake.

“These are exactly the sort of desperate false negative political attacks that Kansans are tired of,” Jonas said.

Roberts’ campaign manager, Corry Bliss, said Roberts is “running on his record. And Greg Orman refuses to be honest about his record.”

Roberts trails Orman in most recent opinion polls with a little more than a month before the election takes place.

This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Pat Roberts releases documents related to Greg Orman’s role in business associate's trial."