Goldman Sachs alleged securities fraud and role in the financial collapse has dominated the news this week, as reported by ABC News, NBC news and Bloomberg. It is difficult to evaluate the evidence against or supporting Goldman at this stage, but Goldman's fortunes were not helped by an inquisitorial and highly publicized hearing by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The Subcommittee scheduled the hearing less than two weeks after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a complaint against Goldman alleging that the firm committed securities fraud.
Goldman officers and employees testified that Goldman was managing its risk on individual transactions, and not betting against the future of the housing market. Six Goldman officers and employees, including its Chief Executive, Lloyd Blankfein, were summoned to testify. Senators asked the witnesses to look through binders of evidence containing internal e-mails and communications.
Goldman defended that the Subcommittee had reached its conclusions before the hearing. The firm also released documents showing that any gains it made from short sales of mortgage backed securities in 2007 were entirely erased by its losses when higher quality mortgages failed in 2008. Goldman's representatives pointed out that the firm had no special advance knowledge that the market would collapse.
The Senators asked Mr. Blankfein if it was morally correct to sell securities to clients while betting against the securities at the same time. Mr. Blankfein promised Goldman would "tighten up" the practices subject to criticism. Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin scolded Mr. Blankfein for Goldman selling securities, allegedly described by Goldman's own employees as "crap," and betting against them. Mr. Blankfein told the Committee that it was not Goldman's responsibility to tell its clients how to trade or invest. Blankfein had testified in January before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission led by former California Treasurer Phil Angelides.
In an e-mail from November 18, 2007, Blankfein allegedly stated to a colleague that Goldman was making more money from short bets on mortgages than it had lost on its investments in home loans. However, Blankfein also states in the same e-mail that Goldman did not dodge the mortgage crisis, and noted that the crisis was not over. Another document discussed during the hearing was an e-mail between Goldman's Chief Financial Officer, David Viniar, and its President and Chief Operating Officer, Gary Cohn, regarding a profit and loss statement from July 2007 and short sales of stock by Goldman.
Goldman's mortgage chief Dan Sparks admitted in his testimony that Goldman made poor decisions in hindsight.
The Senators frequently interrupted witnesses. Their questioning was also not confined to the allegations of the SEC's complaint. Senator Levin seized on an e-mail between the head of Goldman's mortgage desk, Thomas Montag, and Sparks, in which Montag called a set of mortgage linked investments "one shitty deal." Republican Senator Tom Coburn criticized Goldman for making Goldman bond trader Fabrice Tourre a "whipping boy" and releasing his personal e-mails. In response to Goldman's contention that the Committee had cherry picked its evidence, Senator Levin retorted that the evidence was the "whole bowl of cherries," and reflected the history of what happened.
Tourre also tesfied and asserted his innocence, claiming that he did not mislead any parties in dealings relating to a collateralized debt obligation which he helped to develop. He told the panel that he would defend himself in court against the "false" allegations.
Protestors attending the hearing wore striped prison uniforms and held signs stating "shame" and "Goldman banksters," recalling a term coined by Ferdinand Pecora, an Assistant District Attorney appointed by the Senate to head the Pecora Commission which investigated the causes of the 1929 stock market crash.
Goldman received $10 billion in stimulus money from the federal government following the financial collapse. It repaid the monies with interest eight months later.
It will be interesting to see if the SEC or the Subcommittee--coincidentally the same panel led by Wisconsin Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s--has any more damning evidence up its sleeve. In the meantime, in happier news for Goldman, shares in the company have risen from a low of $152 per share on April 26, to $160 in current trading
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