NEW YORK, Nov 26: A former Credit Suisse investment banker accused of leaking inside information about a string of merger deals intends to plead not guilty to a new indictment, his lawyer said on Monday.

Hafiz Naseem, a native of Pakistan who worked for Credit Suisse’s Global Energy Group in New York, is to go on trial on insider trading charges on Dec 10. He was charged in May with conspiracy and securities fraud.

His lawyer, Michael Bachner, told US District Judge Richard Berman at a court hearing in Manhattan that Naseem will enter a plea of not guilty to the superseding indictment.

Naseem attended the hearing but did not speak before the judge.

The new indictment adds three counts related to trading in shares of Caremark Rx Inc and in options in a Texas power company, TXU Corp. Drugstore chain CVS bought Caremark for $24 billion after a long battle with Express Scripts Inc, while a group of private equity companies bought TXU for $32 billion.

After the hearing, Bachner said the new information could add to the time Naseem may face should he be convicted, as the new trades would increase the amount of profit he is alleged to have made.

But Bachner said it was “mostly a technical issue.”

US authorities contend that between April 2006 and February 2007, Naseem provided inside tips about a string of deals to Ajaz Rahim, a former head of the investment banking group at a bank in Pakistan.

The scheme generated total proceeds of more than $9 million and profits of more than $7.5 million, according to the new indictment.

Bachner said after the hearing that the government may try to bring up at trial that Naseem gambled at times when he travelled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and other places.

Bachner said the amount Naseem had gambled was less than $5,000, but the government had not ruled out bringing it up at trial and so he had asked the judge to do so.

“The government, in my opinion, is desperate to try and find some financial motive,” Bachner said. “And they can’t find any.” Berman has set a hearing for Dec 3.

Bachner also said that Naseem never tipped Rahim and that Rahim’s trading was consistent with information that was already public.

“Hafiz has been living with enormous stress,” Bachner said. “He’s innocent and he wants these issues decided promptly.” Rahim has also been charged with securities fraud.

A spokeswoman for the US attorney’s office in Manhattan said a warrant has been issued for Rahim’s arrest and the government will seek to execute it.—Reuters