Goldman Sachs banker Fabrice Tourre faces the music
guardian.co.uk
Is he fabulous or is he a fraud? Or, indeed, both? The London-based Goldman Sachs banker Fabrice Tourre, who is at the centre of a $1bn mortgage trading scandal, tentatively stepped into the public gaze today for an uncomfortable grilling by lawmakers in Washington.
It was a tough debut for the 31-year-old, who was greeted in Congress by a group of Code Pink demonstrators dressed in black and white prison stripes, bearing signs reading: "Stop looting America!" Yet Tourre was unflustered – in fact, he proved to be something of a smiler, wearing a faint smirk through opening exchanges in which senators made blustery statements of outrage over the excesses of Wall Street's wealthiest investment bank.
Since the Securities and Exchange Commission sued Goldman two weeks ago, naming Tourre in legal papers as the mastermind of an allegedly fraudulent 2007 derivatives deal named Abacus, the Frenchman has kept his counsel, accepting paid leave from the bank and abandoning his flat near Sadler's Wells theatre, north London.
Tourre broke his silence to tell the senators he had "categorically" done nothing wrong: "The last week has been challenging for me and my family, as I have been the target of unfounded attacks on my character and motives."
Nothing wrong, that is, except for a regrettable series of emails to his girlfriend, Marrine Serres, in which he referred to himself as the "fabulous Fab" creating "Frankenstein" products that were nothing more than "pure intellectual masturbation" for sale to unwitting widows and orphans.
"These emails were personal emails that I deeply regret," Tourre told Senator Tom Coburn, an unamused Republican from Oklahoma. "They reflect very badly on the firm and on myself. I wish … you know … I hadn't sent these."
Until today's appearance, the only public photograph of Tourre had been a blurred shot snatched from the internet of an excited young man in a red jumpsuit, preparing to go skydiving. It turns out that he is a shortish, respectably groomed figure, sporting a clubbable red and blue tie for his congressional appearance. One Wall Street blog, Dealbreaker, remarked that he had "grown his hair a little longer and is looking kind of hot".
Tourre delved dutifully into the details of the Abacus deal, in which Goldman is alleged to have acted against its customers by working with a hedge fund, Paulson & Co, to stuff a derivative with mortgages doomed to fail. Royal Bank of Scotland emerged as a victim with an $840m hit.
Did he agree, asked Republican senator Susan Collins, that he had "a duty to act in the best interests of Goldman's clients"? Tourre was smoothly evasive, replying: "I believe we have a duty to serve our clients, with respect to our role as a market-maker, by showing prices to clients and offering liquidity."
It was a clever answer that avoided a trap – Tourre believes Goldman can sell any old rubbish it wants to, as long as it is priced by the free market. Buyer beware. |
