Goldman "Fraud" Case Looks Weaker And Weaker
Posted Apr 22, 2010 12:45pm EDT by Henry Blodget in Investing, Banking, Politics
Related: gs, xlf, ^dji, ^gspc, bac, ms, c
There is tremendous public outrage over the behavior of Wall Street banks in the years leading up to the crisis, as well as at the speed with which the banks have bounced back while the rest of the country struggles with 10% unemployment.
As a result, the SEC's decision last week to charge Goldman Sachs with fraud was met with near-universal applause.
The schadenfreude was so intense, in fact, that Joe Weisenthal at Business Insider coined a new term for it: Goldmanfreude.
In the days since, however, the SEC's case has begun to look weaker and weaker, especially after it was revealed that even the SEC's commissioners were divided about whether to charge the firm with fraud.
Goldman's CEO Lloyd Blankfein and many others believe the charge was politically motivated. Others see it as an attempt by the SEC to restore its damaged reputation.
And in the past two days, some newly released information has made it appear that the client Goldman was accused of swindling, a firm called ACA, knew what the SEC says Goldman failed to tell it--that another Goldman client, Paulson & Co., was betting against it.
The fraud charge still stands, obviously. Goldman is currently making the usual tough-sounding noises about how it plans to fight the charge in court, but this still seems unlikely.
More likely, in a month or two, when the case has dropped out of the headlines, Goldman will settle it. The firm will likely have to pay a big fine, but it won't admit wrongdoing. The SEC will declare a much-needed victory, and then everyone will move on.
finance.yahoo.com |
