The following includes questions and commentary for Goldman Sachs as the company defends itself against charges of fraud:
Dear Lucas,
Since I haven't been able to get you or anyone from Goldman Sachs to appear on my show in months, perhaps we can just try corresponding in writing. Thank you for your press release. I have submitted my follow-up questions in bold:
Press release:
Goldman Sachs Makes Further Comments on SEC Complaint
April 16, 2010
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) said today: We are disappointed that the SEC would bring this action related to a single transaction in the face of an extensive record which establishes that the accusations are unfounded in law and fact. We want to emphasize the following four critical points which were missing from the SEC's complaint.
-- Goldman Sachs Lost Money On The Transaction. Goldman Sachs, itself, lost more than $90 million. Our fee was $15 million. We were subject to losses and we did not structure a portfolio that was designed to lose money.
But what about the other "transactions"... You know, the one where you may have potentially shorted this exact transaction with AIG for a lot more than $90 million? You remember AIG, right? It's where the taxpayers paid you 100 cents on the dollar for a company that you helped blow up.
-- Extensive Disclosure Was Provided. IKB, a large German Bank and sophisticated CDO market participant and ACA Capital Management, the two investors, were provided extensive information about the underlying mortgage securities. The risk associated with the securities was known to these investors, who were among the most sophisticated mortgage investors in the world. These investors also understood that a synthetic CDO transaction necessarily included both a long and short side.
There must be a big difference between "extensive disclosure" and "complete disclosure," because if you provided "complete disclosure," you probably would have mentioned to your customers that the entire product was funded and selected by someone who was betting on it to fail. You know, kind of like you did for your coworkers at Goldman Sachs, but forgot to do for your customers!
-- ACA, the Largest Investor, Selected The Portfolio. The portfolio of mortgage backed securities in this investment was selected by an independent and experienced portfolio selection agent after a series of discussions, including with Paulson & Co., which were entirely typical of these types of transactions. ACA had the largest exposure to the transaction, investing $951 million. It had an obligation and every incentive to select appropriate securities.
Not to mention their incentive to be Goldman and Paulson's unwitting patsy...
-- Goldman Sachs Never Represented to ACA That Paulson Was Going To Be A Long Investor. The SEC's complaint accuses the firm of fraud because it didn't disclose to one party of the transaction who was on the other side of that transaction. As normal business practice, market makers do not disclose the identities of a buyer to a seller and vice versa. Goldman Sachs never represented to ACA that Paulson was going to be a long investor.
True, but Goldman also never represented to ACA that Paulson was planning on shorting the same product that Paulson & Co. created in the first place!
Background: In 2006, Paulson & Co. indicated its interest in positioning itself for a decline in housing prices. The firm structured a synthetic CDO through which Paulson benefited from a decline in the value of the underlying securities. Those on the other side of the transaction, IKB and ACA Capital Management, the portfolio selection agent, would benefit from an increase in the value of the securities. ACA had a long established track record as a CDO manager, having 26 separate transactions before the transaction. Goldman Sachs retained a significant residual long risk position in the transaction.
IKB, ACA and Paulson all provided their input regarding the composition of the underlying securities. ACA ultimately and independently approved the selection of 90 Residential Mortgage Backed Securities, which it stood behind as the portfolio selection agent and the largest investor in the transaction.The offering documents for the transaction included every underlying mortgage security. The offering documents for each of these RMBS in turn disclosed the various categories of information required by the SEC, including detailed information concerning the mortgages held by the trust that issued the RMBS.
Any investor losses result from the overall negative performance of the entire sector, not because of which particular securities ended in the reference portfolio or how they were selected.
The transaction was not created as a way for Goldman Sachs to short the subprime market. To the contrary, Goldman Sachs's substantial long position in the transaction lost money for the firm.
No, it was created as a way for Paulson & Co. (and maybe you), to short your customers... you know, the same customers that you apparently forgot to mention that little fact to...
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Founded in 1869, the firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.
And you're welcome for that. Sincerely, the U.S. taxpayers.
Media Contact:
Lucas van Praag
Tel: 212-902-5400
Investor Contact:
Dane Holmes
Tel: 212-902-0300
Thanks Lucas, hope we can chat again soon. Maybe next time about exactly how a then-28-year-old Goldman Sachs junior executive did this with no apparent supervision?
Dylan
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O NO "bama bull" the man who knows how to pull the wool, close your eyes while he tells his lies. Certainly U must know now, why Wall Street is always 3 steps ahead of the Dow. Us "small fries" will never be wise as long the cries do not bring change. If They R allowed to "go scott free", shame on U and shame on me.CorruptoRats and DemoRats become FatCats because no one will step up to bat.......
Washington Examiner: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Is-Goldman-Obamas-Enron-No-its-worse-91613449.html#ixzz0lrNfCvQl
Shocking how wall street is back at its highest levels ever, bankster bonuses are back to their highest levels ever all after paulson crawled on his knees to beg Pelosi for a tax payer bailout.
Shocking how these banks and hedge funds are American when it comes to tax payer bailouts and in name only since like murdoch setting up operations in China they are at least as entrenched in China and other countries as they are the US
Awful how they have decimated the middle and lower classes with the highest unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, and loss of family savings as acceptable collateral damage
wielding weapons of mass destruction
to execute the greatest redistribution of wealth in history
upward to the wealthiest few.
they belong in prison in madoff's cell and their assets clawed back.
Then, capped off with a bailout extorted by and for the very club of people who cutted off the economy at the knees.
We confused - our admirable/rightful promotion of the market - with our shameful/wrongful negligence of protections - from allowing the market to become a casino house for the financial industry (including mortgage, credit card and healthcare insurance) - leading to a house of cards for the overall economy.
Forget about the outrage. Where are our sustainable incentive policies, checks and balances, overseers, control valves, and enforcers?
how does that jibe with the right wing faux loving MSNBC bashers?
and other unethical activites due to a "disclaimer" is non-sense.
The only way trust can be restored between the offending parties, (GS et al.) and the "victims" the US taxpayer, is to have full disclosure of all major banking actions and installation of an independent review committee (unbiased and serving general public interests) in a legal, supervisory function above traders, bankers, lawyers and corporate trusts. The criteria which allowed this fiasco remains unmodified or corrected.
One of the essential tenets of leadership is trust. This requires responsibility for individual actions (and activities in this position) to be accountable. These leaders need to be prosecuted. Wittingly these individuals brought the US to a potentially disastrous, massive bankruptcy failure, the consequences of which still are not fully understood.
The "too big to fail " excuse simply is NOT reason enough to continue with such financial conditions from becoming too real not to fail anymore. Kill the system, behead the participants and remove the messengers. Maybe then TRUST can be restored.
Eliot Spitzer, or an equally tough prosecutor, if one exists, who really wants to catch crooks, and a squad of Untouchables with an unrestricted budget are what is needed now our country is on its knees as the result of some very bad behavior within government and on Wall Street.
It is time for action to put an end to financial and government corruption by putting a lot of very big people in prison for their treacherous and destructive deeds.