A U.S. jury found a former partner at accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP guilty of a securities fraud charge on Friday, according to a court document.

James Gansman, who worked at E&Y in New York until October 2007, was also found not guilty on conspiracy charges stemming from an insider trading scheme.

Gansman was accused of tipping off a friend about pending deals in 2006 and 2007 involving the firm's clients, including the $17.6 billion buyout of Freescale Semiconductor led by the Blackstone Group private equity firm.

His friend and former co-defendant, Donna Murdoch of Malvern, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty on December 23 last year to securities fraud. Murdoch is free on bond until her sentencing, scheduled for June 4.

The case is USA v Gansman et al 08-471 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (Manhattan)

(Reporting by Grant McCool; Editing Bernard Orr)

Pennsylvania Investment Insider trading