Goldman Sachs' chief executive Lloyd Blankfein has reportedly agreed to be a prosecution witness in next week's trial of former hedge fund titan Raj Rajaratnam on insider trading charges.
The prospect of one of Wall Street's most powerful executives taking the stand will only increase interest in the case against Mr Rajaratnam, who co-founded the hedge fund Galleon Group.
Mr Rajaratnam is alleged by US prosecutors to have made $45m (2£8m) from trading on confidential information. He denies wrongdoing. The trial is scheduled to start next Tuesday.
Goldman has been drawn into the case after the Securities and Exchange Commission this week alleged that Rajat Gupta, a former board director at the bank, leaked details about Goldman's results in 2008 to Mr Rajaratnam.
Mr Gupta has denied the allegations and Goldman itself is not accused of any wrongdoing.
The New York trial is likely to shed light on the usually tightly sealed world of so-called "expert networks", which are used by some hedge funds to gain an insight into companies they invest in.
Prosecutors allege Mr Rajaratnam, who was born in Sri Lanka and educated in Britain and the US, used such a network to garner confidential information that he then traded on. If convicted, Mr Rajaratnam could be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The case has huge implications for hedge fund industry as well as US prosecutors. Preet Bharara, Manhattan's chief attorney, has stepped up attempts to expose insider trading, which last year he described as rampant on Wall Street.
Goldman Sachs and Mr Bharara declined to comment.
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