U.S. Opens Criminal Investigation Into Goldman Sachs
New criminal inquiry follows civil fraud charges filed by the government against Goldman two weeks ago and as Congress pushes toward enacting sweeping legislation.
via FOXNews.com
WASHINGTON — Racheting pressure on Goldman Sachs two days after its executives were grilled and rebuked in the public glare, the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation of the Wall Street powerhouse over mortgage securities deals it arranged.
The new criminal inquiry follows civil fraud charges filed by the government against Goldman two weeks ago and as Congress pushes toward enacting sweeping legislation aimed at preventing another near-meltdown of the financial system.
The investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan stems from a criminal referral by the Securities and Exchange Commission, a knowledgeable person said Thursday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry is in a preliminary phase.
The SEC brought civil fraud charges against Goldman and a trader in connection with the transactions in 2006 and 2007. The agency alleged the firm misled investors by failing to tell them the subprime mortgage securities had been chosen with help from a Goldman hedge fund client, Paulson & Co., that was betting the investments would fail. Goldman and the trader, Fabrice Tourre, have denied the charges and said they will contest them in court.
Word of the Justice Department action came a day after a group of 62 House of Representatives lawmakers, including Democratic Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, asked Justice to conduct a criminal probe of Goldman. “On the face of the SEC filing, criminal fraud on a historic scale seems to have occurred in this instance,” the lawmakers, mostly Democrats, said in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.
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