Former Intel executive Rajiv Goel, who was accused of furnishing inside information to Galleon Group founder Raj Rajaratnam, pleaded guilty Tuesday.

Goel pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy. He faces up to 20 years in prison for fraud and five years for conspiracy.

Goel will be cooperating with prosecutors in its case against Rajaratnam, according to his plea agreement with the government.

He is the 10th person to plead guilty in the sprawling investigation where more than 20 people have already been charged.

At the center of most of the cases is Rajaratnam who the government claimed made $20 million for his hedge fund firm from illegal tips. Rajaratnam was indicted, pleaded not guilty and is free on bail.

Rajaratnam and Goel have been friends since the 1980s when they were students at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In the case against Goel, prosecutors laid out how one of the illegal trades took place.

The government alleged that in April 2007, Goel obtained information about Intel’s earnings announcement before it was made public, which he passed on to Rajaratnam. Galleon had been short Intel, but acting on the new information, the fund swung about $59.5 million from short to long.

When Intel said its quarterly earnings were up, Galleon made money on its long position, according to the government.