Goldman managing director in insider trading probe leaves bank

A Goldman Sachs Group Inc salesman who has been under investigation for possibly passing confidential information about technology companies to hedge funds has left the bank, a spokesman confirmed on Monday.

David Loeb, 42, who was a managing director based in New York, has never been charged with wrongdoing. But his name surfaced among a small group of Goldman bankers under scrutiny in connection with an insider trading probe conducted by the FBI.

During last year's trial of Rajat Gupta, a former Goldman board member who was convicted of passing nonpublic information about Goldman's financial state to hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, defense lawyers said it was Loeb, not Gupta, who gave Rajaratnam the secret information.

A U.S. prosecutor told the judge that Loeb provided Rajaratnam with information about Intel Corp , Apple Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co , but nothing about information on the trades at the center of the Gupta case.

Loeb did not respond to a call seeking comment.

(Reporting by Emily Flitter; Additional reporting by Katya Wachtel; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)