Post by Mech on Apr 21, 2010 8:10:05 GMT -5
www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/16/sec-goldman-sachs-charged_n_540377.html
The government has accused Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday civil fraud charges against the Wall Street powerhouse and one of its executives. The agency alleges Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create -- and then bet against -- subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to investors. In essence, Goldman is accused of pushing a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.
Investors in the mortgage securities are alleged to have lost more than $1 billion, the SEC noted.
The SEC claims Goldman Sachs and one of its top officers misled investors by not disclosing that hedge fund manager John Pauson, who made billions betting against the housing market, selected the assets that went into a complex security called "Abacaus."
Paulson & Co. is one of the world's largest hedge funds, and paid Goldman roughly $15 million for structuring these deals in 2007.
"The simultaneous selling of securities to customers and shorting them because they believed they were going to default is the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen," finance expert Sylvain R. Raynes told the New York Times about such deals. "When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else's house and then committing arson."
Goldman Sachs shares fell more than 10 percent after the SEC announcement.
The government has accused Goldman Sachs of defrauding investors by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in mortgage investments it sold as the housing market was faltering.
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Friday civil fraud charges against the Wall Street powerhouse and one of its executives. The agency alleges Goldman failed to disclose that one of its clients helped create -- and then bet against -- subprime mortgage securities that Goldman sold to investors. In essence, Goldman is accused of pushing a mortgage investment that was secretly devised to fail.
Investors in the mortgage securities are alleged to have lost more than $1 billion, the SEC noted.
The SEC claims Goldman Sachs and one of its top officers misled investors by not disclosing that hedge fund manager John Pauson, who made billions betting against the housing market, selected the assets that went into a complex security called "Abacaus."
Paulson & Co. is one of the world's largest hedge funds, and paid Goldman roughly $15 million for structuring these deals in 2007.
"The simultaneous selling of securities to customers and shorting them because they believed they were going to default is the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen," finance expert Sylvain R. Raynes told the New York Times about such deals. "When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else's house and then committing arson."
Goldman Sachs shares fell more than 10 percent after the SEC announcement.