"Goldman Sachs.... recovered by making negative bets, known as short positions, enabling it to profit as housing prices plummeted.... lost money, then made more.... $51 million profit in a single day.... Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.’’
The VERY MARKET they were GLOWING ABOUT to YOU!
Why does the name Buzzy Krongard ring a short bell there, readers?
Getting your bell rung by Goldman, world:
"Goldman Sachs gained from betting against housing market" by Louise Story, New York Times | April 25, 2010
NEW YORK — In late 2007 as the mortgage crisis gained momentum and many banks were suffering losses,
The e-mails, released yesterday by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, appear to contradict previous statements by Goldman that left the impression that the firm lost money on mortgage-related investments. In the e-mails, Lloyd Blankfein, the bank’s chief executive, acknowledged in November 2007 that the firm had lost money initially. But it later recovered by making negative bets, known as short positions, enabling it to profit as housing prices plummeted. “Of course we didn’t dodge the mortgage mess,’’ he wrote. “We lost money, then made more than we lost because of shorts.’’
In another message, dated July 25, 2007, David Viniar, Goldman’s chief financial officer, reacted to figures that said the company had made a $51 million profit in a single day from bets that the value of mortgage-related securities would drop....
Actions taken by Wall Street firms during the housing collapse have become a major factor in the contentious debate on overhauling financial rules. In his weekly radio address yesterday, President Obama said Wall Street had “hurt just about every sector of our economy’’ and again pressed the case for tighter regulation.
Yeah, everything except HIS CAMPAIGN (keep reading).
The first test of the administration’s overhaul effort will come tomorrow when the Senate majority leader, Democrat Harry Reid of Nevada, is to call a procedural vote to try to stop a Republican filibuster. Goldman released documents yesterday that it said showed the firm lost money on mortgage-related products in 2007 and 2008. It said the committee had “cherry-picked’’ e-mails from almost 20 million pages of documents it provided.
Yeah, government does that to sell us wars based on lies, too!!!!
REMEMBER the RUN-UP to IRAQ, America? Wasn't that a LOT of FUN?!
The release of the e-mails and Goldman’s response sets up a showdown between the Senate committee and Goldman, which has taken a more aggressive defensive posture since the SEC filed a security fraud complaint against it nine days ago.
An AGGRESSIVE defensive posture.
You like that, do you?
I laughed when I read it.
So sad, what has become of the NYT.
As for the s*** fooley showdown, who is Goldman buying today (and keep reading)?
On Tuesday, seven current and former Goldman employees, including Blankfein, are expected to testify at a congressional hearing. Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan and head of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said that the e-mail messages contrast with Goldman’s public statements about its trading results.
Translation: THEY LIED!!!
“The 2009 Goldman Sachs annual report stated that the firm ‘did not generate enormous net revenues by betting against residential related products,’ ’’ Levin said in a statement yesterday when his office released the documents. “These e-mails show that, in fact, Goldman made a lot of money by betting against the mortgage market.’’
The Goldman messages appear to connect some of the dots at a crucial moment of Goldman history. They show that in 2007, as most other banks hemorrhaged losses from plummeting mortgage holdings, Goldman prospered. At first, Goldman openly discussed its prescience in calling the housing downfall. In the third quarter of 2007, the investment bank reported publicly that it had made big profits on its negative bet on mortgages.
Hey, JUST DOING "GOD'S WORK!"
Of course, what would he know of any God ?
Well, maybe that one, yeah.
But by the end of that year, the firm curtailed disclosures about its mortgage trading results. Its chief financial officer told analysts at the end of 2007 that they should not expect Goldman to reveal whether it was long or short on the housing market. By late 2008, Goldman was emphasizing its losses, rather than its profits.
Translation: They COVERED UP THEIR THIEVERY and LIED ABOUT IT -- just as a GOOD CRIMINAL WOULD!!!
--more--"
Related: Money Monday: Goldman Sachs' Gold Mine
The Galling Greed of Goldman Sachs
If you really want to see what they can do to a nation, get down in the Greece.
More:
"Inquiry puts embattled UK financial regulator to test" by Julia Werdigier, New York Times News | April 21, 2010
LONDON — Hector Sants, the chief of Britain’s financial regulator, pledged last year to reverse his agency’s reputation as a toothless tiger. He wanted to spread fear across the financial services industry by stepping up the aggressiveness of its inquiries and by pursuing more high-profile fraud cases.
His high-profile opportunity has arrived, and its name is Goldman Sachs.
Yesterday, his agency, the Financial Services Authority, started a formal investigation of Goldman. It said it was working closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which sued the bank last week claiming that it defrauded investors in a mortgage-related deal.
Goldman, which is based in New York but has large operations in London, reiterated its response to the SEC suit by denying any wrongdoing. Like its American counterpart, the FSA’s reputation was damaged badly by the financial crisis. The Conservative opposition party, which holds a slight lead in national polls, said it would dissolve the agency if it wins the general elections in two weeks because of its mistakes ahead of and during the financial crisis.
The pressure to deliver results is heightened further because ABN Amro was one of the banks that lost money in the Goldman deal under scrutiny. The bank was acquired in 2007 by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which is now controlled by the British government after a series of bailouts.
Those seem to FOLLOW GOLDMAN SACHS AROUND, huh?
London has also attracted attention as the birthplace of many of the exotic mortgage-related investments, created by American and foreign banks alike, that set off the financial crisis....
Yes, the GREAT GLOBALISTS MASTERS and their GREED has DESTROYED their plans for GLOBAL GOVERNMENT!
Can you believe they are RIGHT BACK to doing the SAME OLD THINGS?
FLASHBACKS of the WEEK:
Here is a Slow Saturday to get you started.
"Regulator accuses Goldman of fraud; SEC says buyers weren’t told securities’ origin" by Marcy Gordon, Associated Press | April 17, 2010
WASHINGTON — The government yesterday accused Wall Street’s most powerful firm of fraud, saying Goldman Sachs & Co. sold mortgage investments without telling the buyers that the securities were crafted with input from a client who was betting on them to fail.
And fail they did. The securities cost investors close to $1 billion while helping Goldman client Paulson & Co., a hedge fund, capitalize on the housing bust. The Goldman executive accused of shepherding the deal allegedly boasted about the “exotic trades’’ he created “without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!’’
I'm sorry, but....
Line 'em up.
At least it will take the public's mind of all the other things for a while.
And maybe the rest will stop lying and looting. Yer getting fair warning.
The civil charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission are the government’s most significant legal action related to the mortgage meltdown that ignited the financial crisis and helped plunge the country into recession.
CIVIL charges?
CIVIL CHARGES?
NOT CRIMINAL CHARGES?
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!
Also see: Looking Over the Shoulder of the SEC
No, I have to move because it stinks to high heaven back there.
The news sent Goldman Sachs shares and the stock market reeling as the SEC said other financial deals related to the meltdown continue to be investigated.
WTF are they talking about?
An optimistic market advances for a 6th day
Dow recovers as Goldman anxiety eases
Stocks rise as investors look past Goldman case
Love MSM lies, don't you, Amurkn?
It was a blow to the reputation of a financial giant that had emerged relatively unscathed from the economic crisis.
Well, not that big a blow (job).
Sigh.
Goldman Sachs denied the allegations. In a statement, it called the SEC’s charges “completely unfounded in law and fact’’ and said it will contest them. The SEC is seeking to recoup the money lost by investors and impose unspecified civil fines against Goldman Sachs and the executive, Fabrice Tourre. The SEC said Paulson paid Goldman roughly $15 million in 2007 to devise an investment tied to mortgage-related securities that the hedge fund viewed as likely to decline in value. Separately, Paulson took out a form of insurance that allowed it to make a huge profit when those securities’ value plunged.
Like THROWING a BASKETBALL GAME by SHAVING POINTS, right?
The fraud allegations focus on how Goldman sold the securities. Goldman told investors that a third party, ACA Management LLC, had selected the pools of subprime mortgages it used to create the securities. The SEC alleges that Goldman misled investors by failing to disclose that Paulson & Co. also played a role in selecting the mortgage pools and stood to profit from their decline in value.
They are ALL PROFITING from OUR DECLINE, dear reader.
Two European banks that bought the securities lost nearly $1 billion, the SEC said.
“Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party,’’ SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said in a statement.
But Goldman said in a statement....
Who cares what lies came out of their mouths --especially when there is a MSM but attached?
--more--"
"Stakes keep growing for Goldman Sachs and Wall Street; Case could boost efforts to tighten bank regulations" by Louise Story, New York Times | April 18, 2010
So that is why this is appearing in my agenda-pushing newspaper and why they have been charged!
Sigh; nothing is ever as it appears or as presented in the AmeriKan MSM.
NEW YORK — For
Accusations that Goldman defrauded customers who bought investments tied to risky subprime mortgages have only just begun to reverberate through the financial world.
Yes, in an ODD WAY Goldman has DESTROYED the VERY GLOBALIST SYSTEM they were seeking to impose.
The civil lawsuit filed against Goldman on Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission seemed to confirm many Americans’ worst suspicions about Wall Street: that the game is rigged, the odds stacked in the banks’ favor.
That is because IT IS the TRUTH!!!!!!
It is the first big case to delve into a Wall Street firm’s role in the mortgage fiasco.
It is a particularly sensitive time for Wall Street.
Awww, poow wittle biwwions in pwofits Wall Stweet!!
(Blog editor then barfs into wastebasket)
Washington policy makers are hotly debating a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial regulations, and the news could embolden those seeking to rein in the banks. President Obama yesterday stepped up pressure for financial reform by accusing Republicans of “cynical and deceptive’’ attacks on the measure. The SEC’s action could also hit Wall Street where it really hurts: the wallet.
So, ummm, what's a fair fine for you to pay, Goldman?
I mean ALL the FED and TREASURY PEOPLE are FROM GOLDMAN!!!!
This is SUCH SHOW SHIT for the TRULY POOR American PUBLIC!!!
It could prompt dozens of investor claims against Goldman and other Wall Street titans that devised and sold toxic mortgage investments.
I hope so; I hope they get their asses sued off in every nook and cranny of the world.
And it raises new questions about Goldman, the bank at the center of more concentric circles of economic and political power than any other on Wall Street.
I'm not waiting for the answers from government or MSM.
Goldman —whose controversial success has leapt from the financial pages to the cover of Rolling Stone — has fiercely defended its actions before, during and after the financial crisis. On Friday, it called the SEC’s accusations “unfounded.’’
Liars and thieves ALWAYS PROTEST WAY TOO MUCH!
Wall Street played a complex and, at times, seemingly conflicted role in the mortgage meltdown.
Seemingly?
Betting against what you are selling as success to someone else and not telling them is "seemingly" now, huh?
Sigh. Who wrote this?
Goldman and others worked behind the scenes, bundling home loans into investments for sale to investors the world over. Even now, more than 18 months after Washington rescued the teetering financial system, no one knows for sure how much money was lost on those investments. The public outcry against the bank bailouts was driven in part by suspicions that a heads-we-win, tails-you-lose ethos pervades the financial industry.
Well, that is the TRUTH but its only "suspicions" to the.... oh, why bother with them anymore. This is so bad and so sad.
To many, that Goldman and others are once again minting money — and paying big bonuses to their employees — is evidence that Wall Street got a sweet deal at taxpayers’ expense. The accusations against Goldman may only further those suspicions.
“The SEC suit against Goldman, if proven true, will confirm to people their suspicions about the total selfishness of these financial institutions,’’ said Steve Fraser, a Wall Street historian and author of “Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace.’’ “There’s nothing more damaging than that. This is way beyond recklessness. This is way beyond incompetence. This is cynical, selfish exploiting.’’
You can say it: It is DAMN CRIMINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But TAXPAYERS will have to SPEND MONEY to PROSECUTE, huh? With a 50-50 (or less) chance of conviction?
On Friday, Goldman’s stock took a beating, falling 13 percent and wiping out more than $10 billion of the company’s market value.
Like WHO gives a F***?
Getting what they DESERVE if you ask me!!!!
It was a possible sign that investors fear that the SEC complaint will damage Goldman’s reputation and its ability to keep its hands on so many sides of a trade — a practice that is immensely profitable for the firm.
Is that just INSULTING or what?
Yeah, the POOW, POOW, WOOTEWS at GOWDMAN won't be abwe to WOOT NO MOWE, awwwwwww!!!!
Yeah, a NYT SPECIAL, isn't it?
The transaction cited in the SEC complaint cost investors just over $1 billion, relatively small by Wall Street standards.
And the NYT INSULTS KEEP on COMING!!!!
I'm glad I never go there or read a Glob update anymore.
Still,
Pfft!
Sigh.
Wall Street analysts said Goldman and other banks, having navigated the financial crisis, might now face a new kind of risk: angry investors.
And they still keep looting so they are obviously insensitive assholes or deluded cretins.
Take your pick before they are bent over with arms akimbo and... YEAH!!!!
I'll be in the crowd cheering.
--more--"
Yes, high stakes indeed!
"Goldman’s brass had a hand in mortgages; Bank profited on rise, fall of housing" by Louise Story, New York Times | April 19, 2010
Ah, an inside look at Goldman's defense strategy!
NEW YORK — An effusive young Frenchman, Fabrice P. Tourre, and his quiet colleague, Jonathan M. Egol, the mastermind behind mortgage deals known as the Abacus investments, their elite mortgage unit [that] is now at the center of allegations that essentially say Goldman built the financial equivalent of a time bomb and then sold it to unwitting investors.....
Goldman has vowed to fight. But the allegations have left many wondering how far the investigation might spread. Pressure on Goldman mounted yesterday as two members of Congress and Gordon Brown, Britain’s prime minister, called for investigations into the bank’s role in the mortgage market. Germany also said it was considering legal action against the bank.
According to interviews with eight former Goldman employees, senior bank executives played a pivotal role in overseeing the mortgage unit just as the housing market began to go south. These people spoke on the condition that they not be named so as not to jeopardize business relationships or to anger executives at Goldman, viewed as the most powerful bank on Wall Street.
Obviously if they can not go on the record.
According to these people, executives up to and including Lloyd C. Blankfein, the chairman and chief executive, took an active role in overseeing the mortgage unit....
Doing God's work, right?
Mortgage specialists were, in a sense, the mad scientists of the subprime era. They devised investments by bundling together bonds backed by home loans, which enabled mortgage lenders to make even more loans. By early 2007, Goldman’s mortgage unit had become a hive of intense activity. In addition to Blankfein, Gary D. Cohn, Goldman’s president, and David A. Viniar, the chief financial officer, visited the mortgage unit frequently. The decision to get rid of positive bets on mortgages turned out to be prescient.
Well, when you ALREADY KNOW the RESULT you SURE DO LOOK that way, don't you, NYT?!
Come on, hey!!!!!!!!!
Unlike most other Wall Street banks, Goldman profited from its mortgage business as the housing bubble was inflating and then again when the bubble burst. As recently as 2007, Goldman’s mortgage division was split into 11 subgroups, each with a specialty, according to an internal Goldman document. One group, for instance, handled actual home loans. Another provided mortgage advice. A third syndicated loans. Another handled commercial real estate.
Goldman in 2006 alone underwrote $26 billion of bundled mortgage securities known as collateralized debt obligations, according to Dealogic, a financial data provider. Many CDOs have turned out to be bad investments....
Any interaction is with that hive of looters!!
The Abacus deals included insurance-like protection that would pay out if certain mortgage bonds soured. Such credit-default swaps were not worth much in 2005, when housing was flying high, but became highly valuable once the market sputtered....
Wow, and LOOK at THIS!
What a COINCIDENCE that they also MADE $O MUCH MONEY!!!!
Tourre and Egol created a way for a prominent hedge fund manager, John A. Paulson, to bet against risky mortgages. With Paulson’s help, Goldman created an Abacus investment that, the SEC now says, was devised to fall apart. By betting against it, Paulson reaped $1 billion in profit, according to the SEC. Paulson was not named in the SEC complaint....
"Denying it misled, Goldman fires back; SEC not saying if more cases are likely" by Globe Wire Services | April 20, 2010
NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs stepped up its defense against civil fraud charges yesterday, telling clients it did not withhold information in a complex transaction involving risky mortgage securities.
But a big question looms: Will other large investment banks face similar charges?
In a letter to clients, Goldman Sachs Group vowed to fight charges the bank and one of its vice presidents misled investors by selling complex financial products tied to mortgages that were expected to fail....
The bank said it lost $90 million on the deal, but did not explain how.
They just can not stop lying, can they?
I hate to think of the implications for their personality and mental well-being.
Meanwhile, many observers, believing that other banks cut similar deals, wondered whether more companies would be charged....
Yeah, turns out they were ALL DOING IT!!!!
Related:
- The Schwab Mortgage Securities Scam
- Lehman's Lawyers, Looting, and Laundering
- Chasing Down Profits
- Washington Mutual's Mendacious Mortgage Department
- You Belong to the Citi
- British Braveheart Saves Bank of Scotland
- The Banks That Have Hearts
When you find one let me know.
“Wall Street is full of copycats,’’ said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia Law School. “Once you know which deals you’re talking about, it’s not hard to see who else was doing it.’’
Not when it is EVERYONE ELSE, no!!!!
Oh, the STINKING STENCH that emanates from that place!
At the height of the housing boom, several big banks were packaging and selling investments tied to mortgage securities to meet investor demand. Such securities, called synthetic collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, reaped huge fees for banks but later were blamed for creating the credit crisis and worsening the recession.
And the BANKS REAPED HUGE PROFITS on the WAY DOWN like Goldman, right?
Among the biggest sellers of CDOs were Merrill Lynch & Co., now part of Bank of America Corp.; Citigroup Inc.; the Swiss banking giant UBS; and the German bank Deutsche Bank, according to a banking industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Well, the ARROW is POINTING THAT WAY, SEC!!!
Citigroup denied any involvement in the transaction Goldman Sachs is charged in connection with. Citigroup said it has talked with the SEC during the industrywide probe of the role of derivatives in the financial crisis....
The SEC voted 3-2 to sue Goldman, taking a high-stakes gamble that pits Wall Street’s top regulator against its most storied bank. The case has provoked a counteroffensive from Goldman, which says it was blindsided by the suit. Goldman’s defenders suggest the suit may be designed to help make the case for the Obama administration’s push for legislation to overhaul financial regulation.
I'm SURE that is PART of it!
SEC officials say they told Goldman last summer they were likely to take action, yet the bank showed no contrition.
That is because they do not have a heart.
For Goldman, the stakes could not be higher. The worst-case scenario would be if it were to lose its license.
I can't see that happening with their agents strategically placed throughout Washington.
More realistically, some specialists say, the company may settle.
Couple of pennies to Goldman -- and then it is back to looting as usual, with all the MSM applaud they can muster!
Of course, STATE GOVERNMENT ALWAYS JUMPS on the BANDWAGON!
"Galvin also scrutinizing Goldman; State office says ‘huddles’ favor certain clients" by Beth Healy, Globe Staff | April 21, 2010
Massachusetts Secretary of State William F. Galvin is conducting a separate investigation of Goldman Sachs & Co. that he said has similarities to the federal government’s case against the Wall Street titan: potential conflicts of interest and a corporate culture of favoring certain clients.
Same in state government, notice that?
His office has been investigating the practice at Goldman of “huddles,’’ or meetings in which the company’s traders and securities analysts discuss investments and market trends, and then, allegedly, share insights from these meetings with hedge funds and other large clients.
Did they bark out the looting signals like a quarterback?
1- billion- 4 - billion- more - stolen - trade, hike!
Galvin said the practice gives certain clients valuable information ahead of others.
Isn't that INSIDER TRADING and CRIMINALLY ILLEGAL, SEC?
“It’s a recurring theme. It’s conflicts of interest,’’ Galvin said in an interview yesterday. “It is illustrative of the culture. Even if you take the official explanation being offered by Goldman, there’s a culture that preferred customers get special treatment.’’
That is why we are finished as a nation if we continue to abide by these bastards.
******************
Goldman declined to comment on Galvin’s investigation. But the firm yesterday continued to fight back against the SEC charges. During a teleconference with stock analysts, Goldman executives insisted they would “never intentionally mislead anyone’’ about an investment and that Goldman had lost about $100 million on the deal.
(Even this blog editor is aghast at the brazen and outlandish lying and lack of repentance or remorse)
“We have never condoned, and would never condone, inappropriate behavior by any of our people,’’ Goldman’s cogeneral counsel, Greg Palm, said on the analyst call. He further said, “We certainly had no incentive to structure a transaction that was designed to lose money.’’
They did JUST THAT, and he is a f***ing liar!
What place in line is he?
I'll give it an extra whoop when his noggin falls into the basket
Goldman has long been the most revered firm on Wall Street.
Not anymore; now they are HATED BEYOND BELIEF!
And until now, it had emerged relatively unscathed from the global credit crisis and mortgage market collapse that destroyed some competitors.
Wow, what a COOL SIDE BENEFIT, huh?
Even amid the chaos of late 2008, Goldman managed to turn a $2.3 billion profit.
And get a BIG FAT CHUNK of TAXPAYER "bailout" LOOT!!!!
Yesterday, for the first quarter of 2010, the firm reported $3.3 billion in earnings on $12.8 billion in revenue — evidence, Goldman’s chief financial officer said, that its customers are happy.
F***ING OBSCENE and UNREAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But
But, pfffft!!!!
regulators and securities lawyers believe the SEC’s charges — coming two years after the market’s crash — are just the tip of the iceberg, both for Goldman and other major players in the brokerage business.
And LIKE MOST ICEBERGS, America, I would NEVER EXPECT to SEE ANY MORE!!!
As soon as the REG BILL gets passed the GOVERNMENT will BACK OFF!
It's a GAME because the REGS BILL ESTABLISHES a PERMANENT TAXPAYER-FINANCED BAILOUT FUND!
So Goldman is going to TAKE its PUBLIC WHIPPING and then PROFIT AGAIN!!!!
Feel better, 'murka?
“I definitely think this is just the first step,’’ said Stuart Meissner, a New York securities lawyer and former regulator. He said SEC investigators are likely to pore over other investment firms’ deals involving collateralized debt obligations, the pools of mortgage-related bets at issue in the Goldman case....
You think so?
Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, sent a letter to the SEC yesterday, raising questions about the timing of the lawsuit against Goldman, and suggesting that it was meant to put pressure on lawmakers to pass a financial reform measure. The SEC denied its Goldman action was politically motivated.
Yeah, well....
--more--"
I would NOT EXPECT MUCH HAPPENING no matter who is running Congress or the executive, dear readers:
"Goldman’s employees.... gave $994,795 to President Obama’s 2008 campaign"
What, Goldman didn't get its money's worth?
"Goldman PAC hikes lawmaker donations; Gave $290,500 last month alone" by Jonathan D. Salant, Bloomberg News | April 22, 2010
WASHINGTON — Employees of
Goldman’s political action committee contributed $290,500 in March, compared with $209,500 between Jan. 1, 2009, and Feb. 28, 2010, according to Federal Election Commission reports. Donations included $15,000 apiece to Republican House and Senate fund-raising committees, and contributions to lawmakers from both parties and their leadership political action committees.
That's why I AM NOT TAKEN IN MY the FALSE GAME in front of us in the MSM.
The BILL is NOT GOING TO HURT GOLDMAN or any other Wall Street bank!!
Melissa Daly, a spokeswoman for the New York company, declined to comment.
Goldman,
“We’re in the endgame,’’ said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director for the US Public Interest Research Group, which is pressing for stronger regulations. “They’re all-in to defeat reform.’’
Senators are considering legislation that would set up a mechanism to unwind firms if their failure would threaten the financial system, create a consumer-protection bureau, and bolster oversight of derivatives. The House passed its version late last year. The financial firms are teaming up with other business groups to shape the regulations, dispatching executives to Capitol Hill, sending letters to lawmakers, and contributing to key legislators.
They frikkin' write the things!
But it is going to hurt 'em!
The Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business group, spent $25 million lobbying in the first quarter, more than double from the same period a year ago.
Good thing no one needed that money for anything else.
It had 60 lobbyists registered to work on financial regulations through January, more than any other group, and is trying to get members to meet with every senator, the chamber said.
I'll bet this thing doesn't even go through and once again the MSM will have wasted an awful lot of time and print on absolutely nothing.
In the past two decades, Goldman’s employees have been among the most generous political contributors. They gave $994,795 to President Obama’s l 2008 campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington research group.
Isn't that called bought and paid for?
--more--"
And look at where the money is being spent:
Review finds lush spending by parties
Yeah, throw a party for the guys who gave you the loot!
They expect nothing less!
You will excuse me if I leave the room now; starting to really stink in here.
NEW YORK --Goldman Sachs is taking its fight against a government civil fraud case to Capitol Hill.
Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein will testify before a Senate panel Tuesday....
Goldman's willingness to answer questions in such a public forum suggests the bank is trying to get out in front of the SEC case, said Christopher Whalen, managing director of Institutional Risk Analytics.
Yeah, it is ALL PUBLIC RELATIONS!
Well, that WAR has been LOST, sorry, and IT IS OVER!!!!
"There's no place to hide, so if I were advising Mr. Blankfein I would tell him to get out there and tell the story," Whalen said. "Securities fraud claims are difficult to prove, especially a civil claim, so I think Goldman has an even chance of winning in court."
How much is it going to cost taxpayers to prosecute these thieves?
Questions have been raised about whether the SEC informed or coordinated its action against Goldman with the White House, which is in the midst of a push for new regulations on the financial industry. In an interview Wednesday, President Barack Obama denied as "completely false" the notion that White House had advance knowledge of the case....
Then it's true.
SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro also denied any coordination with the White House in the Goldman case and stressed the agency's independence.
There is the confirmation.
Meanwhile, there were signs that the SEC may have a tough time proving its case.
And it is ONLY a CIVIL matter!
The SEC alleges the bank misled two investors who bought complex mortgage-related products that were crafted in part by John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who was betting the mortgages would fail. The agency says Goldman didn't disclose Paulson's intentions to the investors, IKB Deutsche Industriebank AG and ACA Management LLC.
But media reports Wednesday said that a former member of Paulson's firm told the SEC during its probe that he informed ACA Management that the hedge fund was planning to bet against the securities. A spokeswoman for the former employee, Paolo Pellegrini, declined to comment....
And we are supposed to believe him?
The SMELL STINKS!
Webbers got this:
"Goldman executives to testify in Senate; Plan underscores bank’s intention to defend itself" by Eric Dash, New York Times | April 22, 2010
Ah, f*** that.
And f*** this, too:
"Goldman Sachs case opens window into financial folly
HOWEVER IT turns out in court, the fraud suit filed against
While the facts are in dispute, this much seems clear: In early 2007, Goldman Sachs, the nation’s most prestigious investment firm, created a financial instrument called Abacus at the behest of John Paulson, an investor who believed that the subprime mortgage market was about to melt down. The structure of Abacus was complex — a synthetic collateralized debt obligation, built upon credit-default swaps, which would pay out if a particular portfolio of subprime mortgage bonds lost its value. At root, Abacus amounted to a wager.
The mere existence of entities like Abacus helps explain why the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States metastasized across the entire global financial system. It was bad enough that Wall Street bet hundreds of billions of dollars on unsustainable mortgages, which it repackaged and sold off in ways that disguised their risk. But the appetite for financial transactions involving these mortgages was even greater than the vast supply of subprime mortgages. So banks like Goldman Sachs created the likes of Abacus — essentially for the pure sport of betting on whether subprime mortgages would hold their value. When those mortgages went sour, so did bets on Abacus and other abstruse financial instruments.
Like any defendant in any case, Goldman Sachs is entitled to its day in court. The federal fraud suit.... calls the firm’s character into question: Did it, in fact, burn some of its clients by selling them on a money-losing deal? The case also has political implications; critics accused the Obama administration of drawing attention to Goldman’s alleged foibles in order to promote Democratic financial-reform regulation.
But regardless of whether the SEC wins, the facts of the case make it clear how far the financial-services industry has strayed from its basic function: to move money efficiently from investors who have it to those who can put it to productive use. Not all innovation is wise innovation. As the Goldman Sachs case shows, there’s ample reason to hem Wall Street in.
NEW YORK — Goldman Sachs’s chief executive and other top officers are accused in a pair of shareholder lawsuits of lax oversight in deals involving risky mortgage-backed securities that later went bad.
The lawsuits filed Thursday in New York State Supreme Court name Lloyd Blankfein and the firm’s entire board of directors as defendants. The suits follow civil fraud charges filed last week by the Securities and Exchange Commission over the same investments. The SEC says Goldman committed fraud by failing to disclose important information about the securities that might have scared off investors.
The two suits accuse Blankfein and others of “systematic failure’’ over 3 1/2 years for not properly vetting 23 mortgage-linked deals at the center of the SEC suit. Those deals, called Abacus, led to $1 billion in losses. A Goldman spokesman declined to comment. The suits mark the start of what legal experts expect will be a flood of shareholder cases against Goldman Sachs Group.
I SURE HOPE SO!!!!
DESTROY the COMPANY just as they DESTROYED the ECONOMY of NATIONS!
--more--"
