UPDATE 1-US jury finds Ex-E&Y partner guilty of fraud

* Ex-E&Y partner guilty of fraud in insider trade scheme

* Jury rules partner not guilty of conspiracy charges
(Adds details of verdict and charges)

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - A former partner at accounting
firm Ernst & Young LLP [ERNY.UL] was guilty of securities fraud
for an insider trading scheme but not guilty of conspiracy
charges, a U.S. jury ruled on Friday.

James Gansman, who worked at E&Y in New York until October
2007, was indicted in May 2008 on charges of tipping off a
friend about pending deals in 2006 and 2007 involving several
publicly traded companies, the firm's clients.

The Manhattan federal court jury, which began deliberations
on Thursday in the month-long trial, ruled that Gansman was
guilty of six counts of securities fraud and not guilty on four
counts of conspiracy, according to a court document.

A spokesman for the accounting firm declined comment on the
verdict.

In a separate case on May 7, a jury in the same court found
four current and former E&Y partners guilty of criminal tax
fraud involving tax shelters to help wealthy people evade
income taxes.

Gansman, who has been released on bail, faces up to 20
years in prison and millions of dollars in fines. U.S. District
Judge Miriam Goldman Cederbaum scheduled Gansman's sentencing
for Oct. 1.

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

The indictment said Gansman regularly leaked inside
information to Murdoch about pending deals involving E&Y clients
that had not yet been made public.

It said Murdoch used the tips to generate more than
$390,000 in trading profits. One of the tips was about the
$17.6 billion buyout of Freescale Semiconductor led by the
Blackstone Group private equity firm, according to court
documents.

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 by Matthew Lewis)