Friday, April 16, 2010

SEC Charges Against Goldman Will Have Legs

The charges by the SEC against Goldman Sachs are serious. It will result in huge exposure for Goldman to lawsuits. Here's the meat of the charge:
The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Goldman Sachs failed to disclose to investors vital information about the CDO, in particular the role that a major hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and the fact that the hedge fund had taken a short position against the CDO.

"The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the Division of Enforcement. "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."
The full SEC press release is in the EPJ Vault,here.

1 comment:

  1. When I heard this on the radio the first thing that came to mind was what you wrote about Blankfein snubbing the prez.

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