Alex Turnbull Australian Prime Ministers son while at Goldman Sachs smelt a rat but Blankfein tries to gloss over, the missing millions. Follow the money trail from Goldman as no money leaves without processes and approval from Goldman Sachs.
2
Wow. How were they even allowed to continue operating after the GFC? I could have it wrong, but they came across as blatant, self serving greedy shysters a long time ago..
4
And who is that wants to de-regulate???
5
"Goldman’s chairman, Lloyd Blankfein, sought to frame the matter as the misdeeds of rogue employees. 'These are guys who evaded our safeguards, and lie, stuff like that’s going to happen,'" and this sums up the Wall Street/Oligarch mindset - "wasn't me, not my fault, should have been more oversight, we'll do better from now" while they laugh their heads off all the way to bank with our money -twice - by ripping us off then making us pay for it. Watch Frontline's docuseries called "Money, Power and Wall Street" about the 2008 crash and two updated episodes since then. It'll make you vote all Democratic for rest of what's left of our country.
13
Since trump has surrounded himself with Goldman Sachs people, does this mean there will be more openings in the Executive Branch soon? I live in hope.
6
@Ellen M Mc Your comment made me smile :) I live in hope also. I listened to the Goldman Sachs article on BingeWith, it helped me save some time: http://bingewith.com/#id1180
1
People don't go work at Goldman Sachs if they have some sort of moral code that prevents them from unethically exploiting people for money. This really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
7
How could the GS compliance department miss this? A 10% commission on a $6B bond issue says it all. That is higher than equity offerings. I have never seen a top line Wall Street deal with that kind of commission.
5
I wonder how many black teenagers were thrown into jail for marijuana possession, just today. Whereas, no parties mentioned in this article will even wear handcuffs. Sickening.
And of course, when there was a fraud, Goldman was there. When international financial markets collapsed in 2008, Goldman was there. When companies were stripped to the bones after an LBO financed by junk bonds, and the staff reduced to a skeleton crew before the company was spun off for a profit, Goldman was there. When Greece’s books were cooked to get them on the Euro, guess who was there? Goldman.
15
In my opinion its long past time the Feds started applying RICO laws to Goldman Sachs since they seem to operate a lot like an international criminal organization.
10
Whew, good job Steve Mnuchin has no ties to Goldman, Sachs, and that at least this year Trump enterprises didn’t get a $500 mil loan from China that was funnelled through Malaysia, huh?
Capitalism has lost its way. These days many industries such as banking are dominated by a few, very large firms. Free Enterprise — many smaller, competing firms — increases innovation and can limit financial contagion when things go wrong. It also has the potential to broaden the economy. The same impulse that causes us to recoil from government control should also make us suspicious of domination by consolidated, corporate power.
3
@Fintan
Good point. Not to mention that Capitalism cannot exist without regulation...the uncontained impulse to greed results inevitably in what used to be known as trusts & combinations, now known as mergers & acquisitions, which need to be regulated closely lest capitalism blow itself up, again and again and again. Don't believe me? Consult any history text.
We didn't do capitalism any favors by failing to discipline the bad actors in the last go-round.
2
The vampire squid doing God's work. Again.
2
How do you make $600 million in fees from a deal (a few deals) and not question what's going on?
It's not "just two guys" at Goldman. It clearly shows a far greater cultural and integrity issue.
The firm, not just two guys, needs to be severely punished.
7
An excellent example of the reason I moved all of my banking assets to a NOT-FOR-PROFIT, federally-insured credit union. If we wanted to send a strong message to for-profit banks, many more of us in the United States could do so by emptying our accounts into not-for-profit credit unions. Similarly, I feel better off having my automobile insurance, household insurance and healthcare through not-for-profit organizations. I can feel confident because their first priority is the customer, not the investor. Only wish is that we could bring back the old, not-for-profit cooperative grocery stores as we once had in my region.
8
Part of me still naively doesn’t quite understand why. Wall Street banking is one of the most profitable industries in existence already. Legally, they already make billions every year in profit. Why the scam? Why does every major bank always get caught up in a scam every few years? It’s like clockwork.
It’s easy to answer with “greed knows no bounds”, but I think there is more to it. You need greed, but you also need a level of sociopathy that most of us simply don’t understand. Millions might loose their retirement funds, not their problem. Millions might incur malicious fines and fees that would cause them years of hardship, too bad, they need that end of the year bonus for their expensive hobbies.
Here’s a winning strategy for any person seaking higher office, criminal charges for any and all persons who defraud the general public, no matter how small the infraction. One day for every dollar stollen. From the reddest to the bluest parts of this country, people will vote for you.
10
The only thing that makes a dent in greed is fear.
Jail time for Blankfein, who should have known. Jail time and massive fines and clawbacks for everyone involved.
No more slaps on the wrist.
Turn the key and let the other banksters sweat.
11
Goldman is the ultimate example of Too Big to Jail. After wrecking the world’s economy with a fraud so big it couldn’t be prosecuted, you can be sure they will walk away from this one.
8
@kevin blitz, you do know Goldman Sac’s give equal amount of campaign money to both parties .
A large number of their employees vote for Democrats.
2
1. Their employees must do their jobs as directed by the executives at Goldman, or must search elsewhere. I assume that lots of their employees vote GOP too. So what? 2. I, like many other Democrats (probably), would rather that our candidates not accept money from Goldman. As a matter of fact, wasn’t this a big issue with Secretary Clinton in the democratic primary?
Be careful when lighting a match, because there is a very large straw man in your room, sir.
They were never held accountable for harming people through the foreclosure crisis either. Goldman Sachs is rotten and they need punishment.
4
Despite the headline and framing of the piece, Blankfein is exactly right: this is a handful of rogue employees in Asia committing crimes that Goldman was unaware of and obviously would not condone
I’d ask how you know this, but you just do. See also how you just know that Mueller’s running a witch hunt.
Hey, i bet you’d know.what happened to that $500 mil or so China funnelled to Trump Enterprises via Malaysia?
1
Michael Lewis, please write a book about this!
2
What a big surprise! Not.
2
These clowns are emboldened by greed and the knowledge that a payoff will keep them out of jail. Just like trailblazers at Wells Fargo.
2
Surprise, surprise! Shocked.......!
1
I finally understood "Too big to jail," when I watched Angelo Mozilla, the former CEO of Countrywide, answer questions in front of a Congressional Committee after the Crash of 08.
They threw a few cream puff questions at him and he walked off with a half-billion dollar parachute. I was screaming at the TV until I realized that the Congresspersons were, for all practical purposes, his employees.
If the boss is paying the freight, you don't press him too hard, or he might stop writing those bribe checks. . I mean perfectly legal campaign contribution checks.
3
Bankers need to go to jail.
We put hundreds in jail after the S&L crisis. Since then they have managed to avoid jail time for their crimes. Until we start putting them in cells, they will keep committing crimes, under the (rational) assumption that the rewards exceed the risks.
And RICO needs to be applied to Goldman.
11
they may have to sell a few senators to balance the books.
7
White collar crime is crime — full stop. Boards must fire culpable executives without fat paydays, and our elected officials need to prosecute financial perpetrators. “Too big to fail” does not mean above the law or too big to do the right thing. I laud the employees at Google who are taking a stand and hope those at Goldman will follow.
4
We don't ask mob families to reform, we shut them down by sending the members to jail. Why do we let Goldman Sachs off the hook. If you look at their business, they're in the money laundering business disguised as a bank. I know the answer to that, they can bribe people. So why do we let the politicians that take their money off the hook?
9
Blankfein’s comments are so lackadaisical they are laughable... and also a dangerous example of shoddy and inept governance, caused by a lack of motivation or care. So they pay a $1bn fine, so what? They make money hand over fist—some ethical lapses are, to them, the cost of doing business. Yuck.
2
This is the reason why the London bankers what the Brexit; the EU was adopting more regulations to avoid money laundering and financial frauds! The London bankers want their "nice island" free from too much restrictions.
2
What did the G.S. Big Boys in Manhattan, including Blankfein, know and when did they know it? There must be abundant digital trails available for meticulous perusing by federal prosecutors. With that much money sloshing around, it is difficult to consider that the New York home office wasn't well informed about the shenanigans going on in Malaysia.
2
"The charges against senior employees of a major American bank, a rare move in the decade since the financial crisis, "
Long overdue
In case NY Times readers puzzle why, here is a clue
" Look, with even a few mild words of reproof, Obama has lost a huge funding source from Wall Street."
Paul Krugman, 2012, lunch with Martin Wolf
https://www.ft.com/content/022acf50-a4d1-11e1-9a94-00144feabdc0
4
White collar crime pays. But Goldman Sachs is in good company of HSBC, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lehman Brothers, JP Morgan, Bank of America, Countrywide, Wells Fargo Bank, KPMG, Arthur Andersen, and the list goes on and on.
The laws and sentencing against white collar crime are extremely weak, especially when the magnitude of the crime far exceeds the impact of blue collar crime. An armed robbery will give 20 years in a super max of a gas station attendant (not to say it isn't a horrible act), but a fleecing of billions may not even see a trial, let alone time in jail that impacts tens of thousands of people.
In Germany, I recall a case where a professor and some students were involved in a crime and when it came to sentencing, the sentence was heavier for the professor (even though he wasn't the ringleader) and the judges argued his role in society to his students is what added more to his sentence. The same should be applied in US courts, only then would we see a decrease in white collar crime.
6
I find it a bit astonishing that anyone connected with financial services industry might actually be brought to trial. Usually a little slap on the wrist and a few million in fines fixes everything up. Then consider all the racket about GOP deregulation, and anything else which might force more accountability. Speakers fees and reelection donations, etc., usually neutralizes that. Sorry for my cynicism, but we think our way around what the rest of the World would call corruption. American exceptionalism?
3
Many of these GS employees come from Ivy League schools. which they entered with a sense of entitlement and graduated even more certain of their special destiny in the world. They'll never be disabused of this delusion, and the myth is then perpetuated because the next step is to be hired, at an obscene salary, by someone just like them, from the same insular club.
How many times have the "best and the brightest" plunged this country into disaster? Vietnam; Iraq; the crash of 2008; and adding to their sense of superiority, none of them ever pays a price for their hubris, only the rest of us chattel. Surely there are intelligent people who didn't go to one of these schools, who can perform the same functions even more capably and with less collateral damage but they are not members of what amounts to an insidious cult.
9
Guess they had to do something with all that taxpayer bailout money.
4
@Wolfgang Rain
Not a fan of GS, but if you care about facts, you must acknowledge that the bailout money was repaid, with interest & profits, many years ago.
@GMooG I like your point. One can't be careful enough in these times of opinion trumping fact on every screen. Facts are indeed awesome and honest. That GS paid their bailout back with interest (sort of) did not make whole so many thousands of their victims of the time, and moreover it cannot excuse their continued transgressions after a short period pretending they would be good little ol' boys if mommy would just starve the suckling baby to bail them out of their adolescent adventures where "mistakes were made" and "remorse was felt," and "I don't recall" and platitudes of that nature. It remains that, what flesh and blood Goldman Sacks bosses have done with the results of their taxpayer bailout is to continue to lie, cheat and steal. Lots of interesting facts are committed in these organized crime extravaganzas. Thanks for catching that!
Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, Obama and Trump have made sure the banksters never actually pay for their crimes. Obama actually made sure they collected their bonuses for bankrupting America. Nothing significant will happen.
6
Banksters will be banksters.
Fortunately, looser regulations will save the industry....
You or I would do longer and harder time for J walking in this country.
Let them be extradited to Malaysia unless full and total cooperation is given.
4
Goldman Sachs embroiled in a scandal ? I'm shocked!
3
Gee, Goldman Sachs involved in a(nother) huge ripoff? Who'd have thunk it?
3
If I run the NYC marathon in 4 hours and 10 minutes, everyone says "Well done, Andrew! Good for you!" If I run the NYC Marathon in half that, everyone says "Please take this little bottle to the rest room and fill it." No-one is surprised, and that's how it should be. The same should be true of money: if I want to trouser a million dollars, I should expect very very very close scrutiny.
7
Please surprise me! I watched as in 2008 the American banking system operating without any regulation against wild speculation in deriverties careened out of control and caused the greatest recession since the depression. Not enough of any or all of those upper echelon responsible for this will ever see the inside of a prison. The worst that will happen is that these executives will be force to jump off the top,but only with a significant golden parachute. Soft landing guaranteed. You only need to look at men like Rick Scott in Florida who got to be governor now running for senate
7
@Slow fuse And Trump and the GOP deregulate those gangsters!
1
I think I saw this scenario on “Billions”. Except this is not fiction.
3
Is it just me or does Lloyd’s plausible deniability blame game mirror MBS’s one for the ages fall guy approach in light of the realities of 9/11-Yemen-Climate Crises as a mirror of all things ramp up to the Financial Crises and aftermath? Honestly, you either get it or you don’t!
2
Say it ain't so: Goldman Sachs involved in fraud. That's impossible.
After all, Hillary told Wall Street to "cut that out".
6
Theses guys are just like the GOP crooks.. they make millions but that still isn’t enough
5
@Kevin Bitz They make Billions
2
@Kevin Bitz: one big difference these guys are mostly neo liberals.
1
Everyone of import at Goldman Sachs knows how they closed this deal. It is standard operating procedure and business as usual in most of the world. If they were not involved they would not be able to complete in those markets. Check their budgets for this and other projects, there will be plenty of fudge to go around, and any mid-level exec at the company could decipher their Goldman-specific jargon and code names for you. The guys who work these markets make money hand over fist, and have specific talents and skill sets that their colleagues stateside do not possess. The sad thing here is not only that high-level execs at Goldman will evade justice, it is how obvious and simple it would be to make a case against them, and yet no case will be brought.
13
Blankfein:"These are guys who evaded our safeguards, and lie, stuff like that's going to happen....Somebody's going to use phones away from us, and personal this and personal that".
Corporate 'governance' at its finest. So casual. How much did board numbers make from these schemes? How much is enough?
I'm encouraged that Malaysia at least has Najib Razak behind bars, although my confidence that he will truly be held to account is low. $731 MILLION!! It says a lot about the rapid & accelerating decline of the US when Malaysia has stricter rules than Wall Street. Truly we are becoming a banana republic.
18
I don't understand what all the fuss is all about? Capitalism brings to the top the most corrupt, unethical and criminal elements in society. To succeed in a Capitalist system a pre-requisite is a ruthless, selfish drive to profit at all expense -- no matter who and how many are hurt along the way.
So, please don't present this as the exception, for in fact this the rule. In Capitalist societies the laws are made sure to shelter all but the most egregious criminals. Even then, a multimillion dollar lawyer will get you off the hook.
8
LLoyd Blankfein once said "Goldman Sachs is doing God's work". Hmm. Wonder if GOD knows what Goldman Sachs has been upto as of late.
8
10% fee on $6 Billion, or $600,000,000.00 fee to then claim ignorance. Sounds like easy money to me.
This is how truly great wealth is created in the world - theft. Guess who wants the biggest piece of that corrupt action?
Think of all the similar undiscovered scams being perpetrated around the world, no longer coordinated in the financial houses of NY and London but at the financial house on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. There’s a good reason there is no ambassador appointed to Saudi Arabia or in many other countries to cut in on Jared’s exclusive “deals.”
8
“'These are guys who evaded our safeguards, and lie, stuff like that’s going to happen,' Mr. Blankfein said on the sidelines of The New York Times DealBook conference on Thursday. 'Somebody’s going to use phones away from us, and personal this and personal that,' he said, referring to personal devices."
Who could have possibly known?! Oh, wait. maybe someone with financial acumen like Alex Turnbull who, in 2012, noted that the bond rates were out of round. Certainly, Goldman couldn't have been expected to notice.
5
I find I hard to believe that a banker would do this.
; )
4
Goldman made in excess of $600 million raising money for 1MDB...generally speaking, sovereign wealth funds (and most countries) pay a tiny fraction, like 1% of that amount, to raise money as their credit is so solid - it's essentially government debt...plenty of buyers out there in the investment world if the coupon is high enough.
Either the folks at GS are really stupid (unlikely), or just decided to look the other way.
4
Goldman also looted the sovereign wealth fund of Libya. This is how Western imperialism along with the local despots in Saudi Arabia and the UAE loots the Muslim world and generates terrorist reprisals in return.
6
GOP voters, you're voting for this.
4
@Lost in Space
Sure Bud. Because most GS employees are Dems
So Goldmine Sachs is involved in another Billion dollar scadal. How is this news?? Let us know when the sentences are pronounced and the appropriate senior partners are in jail.
13
Once again, thank goodness for US prosecutors!
3
Eric Holder, Attorney General under Obama, and under Obama's supervision, refused to prosecute any of these people after the crash. The simmering resentment this caused among the rest of the country helped give us Trump. Holder, after leaving office, went right back to his old lawfirm Covington, representing the very same people he should have thrown in jail. Now he's mulling a run for President in 2016. How out of touch can these people be?
1
Not again" was my reaction to the headline - if G/S were a mob outfit it would long ago have been shut down.
8
Another pack of Wall Street jackals accused of criminal activity.
Oh, what a surprise.
10
The solution to the continual parade of illegal activity from Goldman and other Wall Street forms is clear: less regulation. Obviously.
7
Goldman Slacks finally pushed it too far.
2
This, arrogant Dems, is why we progressives weren't thrilled with you pushing a candidate like Hillary down our throats. How much had she taken from them??
6
Goldman Sachs sez "Hey, nobody got hurt, right? It's all just a game anyway, right? So, a few boys gamed the system to make millions for themselves and screwed over the people of Malaysia, who care, right? It's a poor country and we were just helping them out by taking their money which they would have spent on schools, roads, hospitals and airports...ya know, boring, Right? We took those Billions and bought Picassos, Ferraris, Gulfstream jets and giant mansions...the good stuff, Right? So, we look like heroes, right?"
10
We have seen all too often where Big Money allows people to skate out on having to deal with Real Legal Consequences, by merely paying a fine from their ill earned gains.
One crime abets another, after another, after another in our 'Financial Services' sector, not only do banks feel they need to charge exorbitant interest on loans they make and refuse to give people saving the same interest rates, but then go and charge such high prices for what are largely automated mass billing setups on those accounts anyhow.
But, at a certain point these high financial crimes, when people are making tens of millions in rake-off, beneficiaries making hundreds of millions in rake-off and the people whose lives were intended to be bettered with that money languish in increasing poverty while the newly rich-by-theft try to cover their actions by limiting inquiry into where that money came from to begin with.
We need to be having the Bankers and Investment Houses who get involved in these deals, which create such hardship for many while giving much to select few, we need to have these people face Real Justice: They need to be removed from banking sector entirely, jailed, and have ALL assets removed, just like we do for drug dealers.
Billion dollar thefts from bankers are more of a critical crime than a few thousand in pot sales, yet the Banker walks because the money talks.
And the jails are filled with the poor already: give Blankenship a 5X10 and a cot in general population, double bunk
14
The master white collar criminals of Wall Street are at it again. This time in foreign countries. Now we're exporting crime on a grand scale. We went after the Mafia big time. But when it comes to Wall Street crime, a token fine as a slap on the wrist is the usual outcome after much hue and cry and media hype. We seem to protect our money machines however they make their money as long as they pay their taxes. When they don't as the Mafia did, we go after them big time, the meta- message is share the wealth.
4
Goldman Sachs is at that place where billions get lost in a financial scandal and they lament stuff happens.
14
Alarm bells should have gone off at the highest levels (CEO, Board, etc.) when they made $600 million from arranging 3 bond offerings of $6 billion for a highly rated sovereign fund. Where in the world can one make 10% fees just arranging a bond offering. Instead of questioning something that clearly smells bad, the CEO Lloyd and President Cohn tells Goldman employees to pursue more of such business. It’s insane how human greed can drive a company to destruction. Goldman senior management and board needs to resign.
209
Why not? If you have no ethics what's the downside? All of these scandals blow over literally within months and all the participants reap lavish financial rewards.
16
@Bruce W Agree! A ten percent fee for arranging, not giving, a loan is extremely dubious at best. Sounds a lot like the fees Drexel charged in it's heydays of illegal activities. These 600 million sound a lot like a payoff for Goldman's help in squirreling away ill-gotten wealth, AKA stealing money.
The other reason why Goldman should be very worried about this is that this scheme is likely only the tip of the iceberg. Goldman has engaged in questionable deals the world over, and some of those may well come to light as plea deals are being made. At least, that would happen with a company that is less well connected than Goldman. They'll likely only pay a small fine and promise not to do it (read: not get caught) again.
25
@Bruce W Should be forced to resign! Sent to jail and stripped of their assets. Anything short of that will be offensive to normal people. This kind of fleecing is what eventually causes unnecessary revolutions.
These grand crooks is what destabilize governments.
23
Nothing changes until lots and lots of bankers, especially the ones all the way up the chain, start going to jail on a regular basis and for a long time. If only our Justice Department cared as much about financial crimes and tax evasion as it does about asylum seekers. Zero tolerance for the poor and helpless. Zero enforcement for the rich and brazen.
380
@A Nobody
Could not have said any better.
Thank you.
23
@A Nobody
Yes, and of Trump really wanted to stop illegal immigration, he would propose legislation to prosecute the CEOs of companies that hire them, because as long as there is money to be made they will find a way into the U.S. (mostly through the gate.)
Illegal immigrants are useful to employees precisely because they are illegal. That is what keeps their pay and benefits low, and that is what makes them ideal weapons to use against citizens. The more illegal you make them the more profitable it is to hire them. If the pay and benefits all employees were protected, illegal immigrants would not be as profitable. And if companies actually lost money to law enforcement to hire them, they wouldn't.
But global corporate mass media has convinced many workers that the guy that fired them is a heroic "job creator" and "wealth creator," and that they should blame the person they hired to replace them instead of the company that fired them.
Global banks get away with fraud, and get tax cuts and massive subsidies, because they have fed the public a fantasy about how CEOs are smart and hardworking, while we are lazy and stupid.
We do the work. We create the wealth, and they just grab a piece of everything that goes by, because they can, then hire teams of lawyers, lobbyists, pundits, think tanks, and 75% of all stock, including in media and social media, so they can spread disinformation about where your money goes and where their money comes from.
WORKERS UNITE to TAX THEM!
21
@McGloin
How many illegal immigrants are working at Goldman?
6
Wow. The possibility that a US banker will go to jail after a decade of scandal after scandal at the major US banks will no executive ever getting any jail time? I will believe it when I see it.
8
Time for fraudulent bankers to spend time in jail. This may be only a start. They are being picked from the bottom. Let's get to the top.
8
In a real (direct) democracy where each could vote upon a proper disposition of vile matters such as these, 'capitalism' as we know it would be over.
2
We need the federal authorities to make a major push on high level white collar crime. It doesn't kill people as dramatically as terrorists go but these days it's doing much more harm.
Won't happen while Trump is in office.
7
The last sentence of this article is the key to stop this scandalous behavior of the Goldman bankers.
Goldman made a huge amount of money in commissions while crafting dodgy deals. They did the same in helping the Greek government to hide the extent of its indebtedness. Greeks paid with punishing austerity while Goldman got to keep all the mega millions it got as fees.
I cannot understand this state of affairs. If an ordinary individual cheats on his taxes, then not only he but his tax advisor too is liable. Then why does the same rule not apply to these financiers?
13
"Goldman Sachs is facing one of the most significant scandals in its history, a multibillion-dollar international fraud"—
Wait. So Goldman Sachs wasn't already *itself* a multibillion-dollar international fraud? I'm quite sure that people with a pulse who are *not* waiting for every single one of that scheme's employees to finally rot forgotten in a jail for once simply don't exist, like unicorns, or Tolkien elves, or sane Congressional Republicans.
And is anyone else highly annoyed by the name of that Malaysian fund, 1MDB? I keep wondering what that one movie info website has to do with high financial crime...well, besides the Hollywood accounting thing I guess.
3
Leissner was fined $44 million for "ill gotten gains". It is actually called "stealing" by everyone not working in the "financial industry". The first step in cleaning up Goldman and Wall Street is imposing "treble damages" on people like Leissner. He would pay $132 million for his crimes. The second thing to do is eliminate the SEC and create a real financial crimes police unit. The third needed element is to create an international financial crimes unit that could capture and prosecute international financial criminals. Crimes like those committed by Leissner are rampant today and cost honest hard working citizens from all nations trillions of dollars.
15
Crime should be the #1 issue this election - corporate crime, that is.
11
Read John Kenneth Galbraith's book, The Great Crash 1929. The similarities between the Great Depression of 1929 and the Great Recession of 2008 are eerie. Guess what? Central to the proximate cause of both of those financial traumas suffered by the 99% is Goldman Sachs' miscreant behavior. The New Deal put the too big to fail banks on a leash for a reason. It took less than a decade after the Republican deregulation led by Phil Gramm for them to drive us over a cliff again. Guess what? The too big to fail banks are even bigger now. They will get bailed out again. Believe me.
9
@Johnny Reb: Actually you can thank Bill Clinton for the elimination of Glass / Siegel. I believe Graham/ Rudman was about targeting deficit spending.
It is quite nice to have rich and powerful friends and neighbors who can help you with your business. However, dirty money laundered and used in the financing of clean and open businesses is dangerous and illegal, if I remember well, and one must face the consequence if caught doing such dirty deals. The Hell's Angels do that, the Mexican cartels do that, organized crime around the world do that, rogue regimes do that, and many other organizations of all kinds do that, if I read well the hundreds of yearly reports describing how dirty money is laundered. Goldman should know or should have known better than working with dangerous players of that level. But who cares if, like in 2008, millions of people lose homes, jobs and savings as long as a few hundreds of fat cats get their hands on the prize? When caught cheating, banks should pay with their own money to us the people by giving us a break on loans and credit card debts or forgetting our debts towards them. It would be a nice way to repair what they broke in 2008. The pain and despair they created in the 2008 recession cannot be forgotten just like that. We the people got them out of the whole in 2008 (TARP), why can't they hepl us, their regular clients?
11
Well since EVERYTHING is made to about politics and ultimately identity politics, why aren’t we talking about how these charges by the pervasively anti-Semitic Trump administration are an obviously glaring example of racism in action?
1
Chalk up another one for those great American capitalist values we espouse and export around the world, and as represented by our incredibly honest, moral, value strutting president and his upstanding cabinet members (snark).
Are we ever going to start putting these guys in leg irons, chains and orange jumpsuits? Confiscating their loot?
This time they were caught. This time.
8
What a hoot! Rob a bank and steal $5K and the FBI, state and local cops show up , guns drawn and sirens blasting. When the bank facilitates the thefts of millions of dollars, apparently no one is to blame, except some guys at the bottom levels of the totem pole. The Sarbanes - Oxley process was intended to prevent senior execs from claiming "no knowledge" of what their subordinates were doing. Obviously, GS has fund a way around that.
10
@Dave DiRoma So you think the Times was incorrect to write "The charges against senior employees of a major American bank." Can you back that up?
My understanding of Sarbanes - Oxley was that it was about filing false financial statements, it wasn't supposed to stop all fraud. And, of course, there may be further charges.
Historically, everyone wants to work for Goldman Sachs! Even, workers in the supposedly non money making Back Office, or the more appropriate, Operations, are paid big bucks, especially at bonus time!!!
3
Mr. Blankfein knew nothing....nothing. He’s chairman of the Board but he knows nothing. It’s amazing how these powerhouses of greed always claim ignorance when fraud is discovered. Deers in the headlights that all they are. What horse feathers!
It’s time to start putting the leaders of these vast banking organizations to whom fraud is a business plan in jail!
15
“Leissner... forfeited nearly $44,000,000 that he earned from scheme” shows NYT’s editorial gaps. First of all, how is stealing $44,000,000 “earned?”
8
One thing the Trump Administration has inadvertently exposed is the sheer level of corruption and fraud at very large American and international businesses.
It would be just deserts for the billionaire class if the Trump era resulted in strict ethics regulation, and serious enforcement, for anyone doing business in this country.
We should have thrown a few bankers in jail last time. Instead, we set up a consumer financial protection bureau that was rendered harmless by Mick Mulvaney.
8
The Con Don is already trying to set the stage to make "democrats" responsible for the global financial meltdown that is brewing.
He knows it's on life support right now and that the Top 1/10th of 1% who control most of the world's stocks are moving money around every minute to try to keep global market afloat.
Truth is that corruption like this - unregulated, unfettered greed - is what is going to bring about the depression that is coming. The Con Don knows it. Anyone with half a brain knows it.
However, it's not the 1920s and OUR United States of America and the world have come a long way since the great depression and WWII. We have enjoyed relatively peaceful lives and prosperity and WE will not let them destroy OUR lives again with the senseless WW3 they are trying to foment.
Not now. Not ever again.
10
"Rogue employees"?? Nuff said.
11
I think an article that says "no investment bankers committed a crime last year" would be a surprise. This? Not so much...
7
Another example that the financial industry cannot govern itself. The culture of greed and short term profit above all else is not an aberration. It’s a function of these corporate machines. That’s how they are built. They cannot operate in any other way.
The “a few bad eggs” explanation is not comforting. Bad eggs are a persistent and common facet of the human experience. We will always have them. And they will gravitate towards an industry that facilitates the worst of human tendencies. We saw this when the financial industry brought the world economy to its knees and we see it now.
We know for a fact that the finance industry can’t govern themselves. Want to call it “the Nanny State?” Fine. But petulant, ill-behaved children that can’t control their own behavior need just that.
26
Is any one surprised by this?
15
The only surprise in this story is how relatively limited the case seems. The culture of GS has been just about as wink-and-nod corrupt as it gets for decades. No amount of pr paint is ever going to change the masters-of-the-universe culture at its partner echelon. And the wannabe partners will do anything to join the club. Anything. It’s a real study in closed system human dynamics.
14
Fascinating story. I had wondered what became of 1MDB. The perpetrators got away with their scheme for a while, but any arrangement like this involving state funds should raise eyebrows in Goldman Sachs.
However, the use of Vella to evade compliance shows another flaw in the system:
"According to that filing, the co-conspirator identified separately as Mr. Vella agreed with Mr. Leissner and Mr. Ng, in a 2012 meeting, to keep Goldman’s compliance department in the dark about the scheme to bribe government officials to secure financing for a deal."
The system is so mechanically structured that if it sees no flag from compliance, then the questionable deal is a go. It's a weak point. Compartmentalized functions in a corporation make criminal functions easier, as all one has to do is control a critical isolated function. Executives don't want to look over each others' shoulders to check on them. Things slip through the cracks.
In the engineering of critical systems there is lots of work on developing self-checking system. Maybe the banking industry, with billions of dollars at stake, should adopt critical oversight of its operations instead of token "compliance" departments that can be bypassed.
9
@Charles - actions are being taken in Malaysia. Ex PM is facing 38 charges, trial to start next year. Exciting times
4
This would be ten years overdue and underwhelmed.
8
'The money was used to...pay for the Hollywood blockbuster “The Wolf of Wall Street.”'
That's just too rich.
Puns aside, I really hope there's some serious jail time here.
30
Goldman Sachs ? That Goldman Sachs? THE GS that is doing God's work? Words fail me. I am dumbstruck. Speechless. At a loss for words, dumbfounded, bereft of speech, tongue-tied, inarticulate, voiceless, silent and MUM.
22
“Doing God’s work”
Lloyd Blankfein
12
@Marc Castle
He did not specify which god. Possibly Mammon or Baal?
6
People involved with financial crimes must serve jail time.... just like anyone who robs a 7-11.
This is the only deterrent that will work.
Dishing out monetary fines just does not cut it.
49
When greed is your sole motivation, as in investment banker, what can we expect?
12
If Goldman Sachs was concerned about their "reputation" they should have thought twice before sending their boardroom to work in the Oval Office for Donald Trump. Greed personified hires greed in action and viola! Tax cuts for themselves and their fellow 1%.
23
@Elizabeth - Seriously? Goldman Sachs has been a democratic backer for years. Just ask Hillary Clinton or someone from the Clinton Foundation.
@DEWaldron Like many large & powerful outfits they give to some folks in both parties. Actually I'm not sure if they haven't given to all prominent Republicans. I know they haven't given to Bernie Sanders. Elizabeth Warren? Kamala Harris? Gavin Newsom? These are actual questions.
3
To me, the most sickening part of this story is this:
“Court papers filed by federal prosecutors describe a long-running scheme begun in 2009 by the Goldman bankers to conceal Mr. Low’s involvement in the fund’s businesses and the money paid out on his advice. Those bribes and kickbacks helped secure business for the bank...”
Less than a full year after the gigantic financial meltdown, the greedy bankers were back to doing their same old scams and tricks.
No lessons learned, no remorse for the pain, suffering, and humiliation they just put the American people through just “more more more.”
Think about what it will feel like in another year or ten years when the next financial scam is uncovered- the one which is running right now unbeknownst to the general public but which undoubtedly will blow up eventually.
The military plans and trains for threats from outside forces but who is safeguarding threats from inside our country, perpetrated by these nearly untouchable bankers??
What is a larger threat to the American way of life? A few hungry immigrants walking towards our borders or the unethical and unregulated systematic bad behavior by banks and bankers who have already caused one meltdown in recent memory and clearly learned nothing from it.
47
@Kenn Winch
"No lessons learned"?
Wrong. They learned they can get away with it. But then again maybe they knew it all along.
5
Fine GS a trillion + dollars and use the proceeds to pay off student loans. Send the executives to jail, including Blankfein.
44
For decades, Goldman Sachs has been a criminal organization whose powerful ties to the leaders of both political parties have allowed it to escape accountability for all its crimes. They control regulatory bodies and buy off legislators to prevent transparency of their shenanigans and threaten whole countries with financial armageddon. They are evil. May they one day be caught and dismantled.
27
It comforting to know that Goldman's and other Primary Banks are still doing "God's Work" with free money from the FED....LOL! There is a reason they refer to them as "banksters"....it would be crime if anyone went to jail for these shenanigans. I would guess like most revelations in the financial world...this is just the tip of the iceberg. Little wonder we continue to lose faith in our financial, political, governmental institutions. We need several thousand perp walks to cure WS of it incurable greed.
8
@wedge1
It wasn't free money, it was a loan that all banks paid back in full including interest. Those facts aside the way to end this greed is to elect more dems to insure that they will not repeat what they did in 2008. Though getting rid of Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is a start. He has been bought and paid for by WS. Eric Holder should have gone after Dimon, Blankfein etc. al instead they were invited to the Capitol to make our financial laws. And paid off some "fine" politicians as well.
7
If the authorities refused to do anything to HSBC for laundering money for the cartels, allowed Well Fargo to continue after getting a slap on the wrist for fraud and theft, they certainly aren't going to do anything to Goldman Sachs. What would be real news is convictions and jail time for these crooks, as far as I'm concerned, this is more of the same.
15
Gus Levy must be rolling over in his grave!
When he was in charge of Goldman, they wouldn't even do hostile takeovers!
4
And this surprises who????
7
I'm just so sure that Blankfein knew absolutely nothing of this. NOT! Heads will roll but no this, he has friends in very high places (See Chuck Schumer). Only the little guys go to jail.
10
Just to be clear: Timothy Leissner pleads guilty, and has to forfeit $44 million. Do we have a genuine accounting of how much he stole? And how much jail time does he get for that? How much of that fine (aka cost of doing business) goes to the taxpayers of Malaysia, from whom the money was stolen? If I steal, let's say, $100 million and have to cough up $44 million of that, where can I sign up for that gig?
12
It wasn’t that long ago they tried to corner the U. S. aluminum market. The fact that they embezelled money to fund a movie about their own insatiable greed and villainy, and then made money off it—well who said poetry is dead?
9
"...stuff like that’s going to happen,” Mr. Blankfein said.
Pay the fine. Admit no wrongdoing. Carry on.
6
GS. “A giant vampire squid with its tentacles wrapped around the earth.” From Libya to Argentina to the Far East. Our current Treasury Secretary is an alumnus. He’s not the first. Paulson kept the flame glowing while he was in charge. Even got rid of a few competitors.
6
Fitting that the "The Wolf of Wall Street" was funded from this money. Little did we realize it was a biopic confession!
9
Perhaps too bit "too fail" also means "too big to know what is going on."
2
Masters of the Universe, ethically corrupt? Unthinkable.
4
Who got the 600 million in fees. Goldman Sachs. End of story.
2
What are the chances that we will get an actual perp walk out of this? Slim and none?
4
The irony that fraud financed the film “The Wolf Of Wall Street”...
3
Have long waited for an article in the NYT showing all the payments/penalties GS has made in the past , say, 10-15 years to 'settle' government charges of malfeasance/irregularities in its financial dealings. Clearly GS is a serial offender but such an article would give a clearer picture of the extent and nature of its misbehavior than the occasional but all too frequent individual reports.( Note-virtually all payments are made with the disclaimer of non-admission of any wrongdoing and solely to put aside a bothersome distraction). What are you waiting for NYT?
8
Who is surprised by any of this? Let's see some hands.
Curious to see what punishment, if any, the gov (likely ex-Goldman personnel) metes out.
3
Lloyd Blankfein’s brazen denial of knowledge of this and his statrment that “stuff happens” tells us all we need to know.
Blankfein is paid hundreds of millions of dollars a year to “run” Goldman but clearly has no idea what’s going on.
If Blankfein cannot control his organization he needs to resign, and forfeit the billions he has stolen. Bettet yet, a long prison sentence might show him that “stuff” indeed does happen when an arrogant, entitled criminal enterprise brazenly breaks laws.
6
@Space needle
You don't think he knows what is going on?
Goldman and "vast fraud" like love and marriage.
3
There will be no long-term punishment meted out to GS. They are "too big to fail" and, what's more, their tendrils reach deep into the Treasury and other levels of government. I have no faith what-so-ever that suitable punishment will be meted out...just like the Great Recession saw no significant fall-out for banks and bankers. Money talks to power.
4
Cataline, how long will you abuse our patience? Truly enough is enough -- this is the same crowd who did so much to contribute to the colapse of the global economyin 2008, aided, abetted and enabled by W/Republican "deregulation" (code for: do what you want). To borrow a phrase from our current fraudster-in-chief: lock 'em up.
2
Business as usual? When did you first notice?
"In pleading guilty, he was ordered to forfeit nearly $44 million that he earned from scheme." He didn't EARN anything. Just another thief...
1
Why am I not surprised?
1
Begs the question: What would Eric Holder do?
Right. Nothing.
3
What? There's gambling going on in Casablanca? I'm shocked.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/greek-debt-crisis-goldman-sachs-could-be-sued-for-helping-country-hide-debts-when-it-joined-euro-10381926.html
2
"Stuff like that’s going to happen,” Mr. Blankfein said." Wow, talk about owning your stuff.
2
My personal favorite is the NEW chair of GS and the tale of his million dollar wine collection that is so vast he did not know his assistant had stolen some and sold it on the fly - suicide as GS chair and wife doggedly pursued assistant to do prison time.....let's see how GS fairs in the "stealing" scenario when the shoe is on the other foot....Murdoch has NYPOST carry this type of stuff......reading it together though...what hypocrites these people......
3
I wonder what would be found were prosecutors to go back a bit further in time, say, before 2007, and look into the deals Goldman made in say, Greece. Would they find its fingerprints on the ensuing financial debacle?
4
The smartest crooks in the room finally get caught.
2
@CV Danes
Got caught? Sure. But will Blankfein see any jail time? Heck no.
1
Obamas response to the 2008 financial crisis was “Their acts were certainly egregious but not ILLEGAL”!!So when are going to make the illegal!!!
5
I find this story as offensive as any off the readers, but I think the deeper question is it fundamentally throws into doubt whether we really have a capitalist system, just crony corruption . I also agree it would be salutary to see someone serve time, and more investigative resources put to work to go after these guys. But consider- 1) scale -Goldman did over $32 BILLION last year- $44 million in that context IS 0.25%="small" change- its like you making $100,000 a year and asking you spouse what is this strange receipt for $250 for Malaysians artifacts ? Its not a cup of coffee, but do you hassle /question/audit your spouse for every $100-200 they spend ?
2) clearly goldFein still "doing the lords work" doesn't care about this so employees draw the right lessons-no solution until there are INTERNAL punishments for this, and no reason for internal standards as long as people/companies keep doing business with GS. 3) a good start would be removing ANY hint fed /government would back up Goldman in a crisis-they are too big to fail so will,can take any and all risks-they are literally playing with your money even if not a customer !
1
Not a good time to be thinking of relaxing controls on the financial institutions that brought us so low in 2008.
14
Notwithstanding Rolling Stone's witty prose, Goldman Sachs is one of America's greatest institutions. They are a world leader in financial innovation, it is the center of the action, it is a place where the envelop is pushed, it remains a number one choice for employment for university graduates with the highest standings in certain fields, it's alumni are among the leaders of US business, etc, etc But of course sometimes things go wrong, and in this case it seems to have, and they will very likely pay a heavy price before it is over, which is the American way. Isn't it?
@GBC1 Of course sometimes things go wrong. But at least they have apologists like you to help.
4
The response from Mr. Blankfein did not seem sufficiently urgent, though we do not know what GS has done to stem this kind of behavior. On the other hand, the people I know who want to "unleash the banks" from regulation and penalties typically have no earthly idea as to just how corrupting the compensation practices are at the largest banks and how stupid and shortsighted some of these bankers can be given the emphasis on profit growth and individual compensation.
Commercial banks have a fundamental responsibility to their depositors, admittedly an antique idea these days. The investment banks sometimes appear responsible to no one. To my more free market friends, I just reply "Lehman, Bear Stearns, Royal Bank of Scotland, Danske Bank recently, HBOS, Allfirst (FX losses), Herstatt back in the day, the secondary banking crisis in 1970s UK, Wachovia (total risk disfunction), taxpayer funded bailouts in Japan, Norway, Sweden in the last 40 years and the list goes on with 135 European banks cratering since 2008, some of the Chinese banks looking suspect these days., etc. They all find their own way to fail but lending against real property in boom times is a regular theme.
I was a commercial banker for almost 30 years. The first and only line f defense is a strong risk culture. As soon as your boss says they want "team players' you know that things are headed south and it is time to seek another branch on the tree.
2
Has anything changed at Goldman? I guess not. Who sets the tone for a culture of greed? Who allows it to continue? Lloyd, if they are “ rogues” they are operating under your watch. Seems like a pretty weak defense.
3
@Gordon Hastings haven't you heard? no one with responsibility is responsible anymore. in this giant game of "farmer in the dell" they always find someone to play the cheese.
2
But remember that Lloyd is doing "God's work"?
As Bernie says, the business of Wall St is fraud.
Call it what you will -- finance capitalism, "investing", "just making a profit", whatever. It's fraud, and it no longer serves any useful purpose than to fleece the rest of us.
14
And lets see how this all plays out. there never seems to be a perp walk, and Goldman, no doubt, pays a fine, and then take it off their taxes as a financial loss.
If I steal billions of dollars with a PC and a business suit, just write a check and go home. If I held up a 7-11 and got 200 dollars, I would be doing hard time.
And do not forget, a scheme of this size needed to have the approval of executive management. They too should be included in the guilty. Some executive doing hard time for a number of years will do much to determine these financial crimes.
33
@Michael Panico you could add to that: "If I helped to collapse the global economy in 2008..."
1
No one is productive enough to create a billion dollars worth of wealth for themselves, much less multiple billions.
The only way to amass a billion dollars of wealth is to steal other people's productivity.
If a factory is making cars and you fire the CEO, the company will still make cars, but if you fire the employees no cars can be made. CEOs are great at self aggrandizement, but not as critical to the process as they would have you think.
However, they do set the tone. Just like Trump sets the tone for political violence, Blankfien sets the tone for fraud.
Since 2008, the Federal Reserve Bank, which for some reason we put in charge of "printing" U.S. dollars, has given away at least $3 trillion NET, in free cash to the global banks including Goldman Sachs. This comes to $9,000 for each citizen, or $36,000 for a family of four. (Many of these banks are not even based in the U.S., but we are worried about immigrants!?)
In return they continue to engage in fraud, like Wells Fargo opening millions off accounts without telling consumers (rectified by the Elizabeth Warren's Consumer Protection Bureau, that Republicans are attacking).
A few thousand people control half of the world's wealth. half, of everything, while we give them free cash plus tax cuts.
IT'S NOT THEIRS. MATHEMATICS SAYS THAT THEY STOLE IT.
We need to tax bank the wealth created by the wage earners that do the actual work, but haven't had a real raise in decades, even though productivity is up over 40%.
44
@McGloin
I’ve thought this out many times, ‘Where did the MONEY go?” So read all the books, which the various people started whispering to Obama before the primaries, why? They wanted a friend, on the other side. Then you, like me will start to figure it out. It’s sick.
Why are these GS folk allowed to use their I'll gotten gains to hire million dollar lawyers to defend themselves? When drug dealers are suspects aren't their funds frozen? Why not use Civil Forfeiture laws on their cars and houses and accounts? Why isn't the wife's jewelry in the evidence room?
35
it seems impossible that Mr. Leissner made $44 million out of this scheme and nobody in compliance had any idea what was going on.
Surely the massive commissions ($600million) earned should have warranted closer scrutiny particularly when internal emails refer to projects that the bank apparently knew nothing about!
14
Not to worry.
Trump and his Merry Pranksters will deregulate so these poor fellows won’t have to worry about going to trial.
And , even if they are convicted, Trump has pardon power.
15
@Rita Perhaps NY could file some charges as well, nullifying Trump's ability to pardon.
4
@Bob Wessner
Our bought and paid for shill Chuck Schumer will see to it that Lloyd and Co. never see a day in court.
The Squid does not expect to answer questions in the daylight. These things are best taken car of in some dark corner away from prying eyes.
The cells should have been full of GS bankers rigging the mortgage market, one fat commission at a time.
8
See, these bankers who engage in mischief are never locked up.
With the last financial crisis they all claimed “Were not criminals, were just bad businessmen. We didn’t commit any crime, we just went bankrupt !”
Gross negligence on their part should be a criminal crime and if we start locking them up, their behavior will change. Otherwise the mischief will continue with every opportunity.
29
@New World
I agree. And by slipping on the mask that suits them in the moment, a corporation is seen as a "person" when it comes to giving bribe-donations to favored puppet-candidates…and yet a corporation becomes a NON-person when caught engaging in criminal behavior. Viola! A corporation can't go to jail, like a REAL person would. "Citizens United" continues making mockery of the notion that: "With power, comes responsibility".
6
As usual, it's the private who takes the blame while the general rides off on a yacht...
Does anyone really believe Goldman Sachs knew nothing about this and that it was simply rogue actors?
I certainly don't.
55
@J
If they didn't know then what does that say about having trust in where to park your money? Willful blindness on the part of Blankfein yet again.
4
@J Yes, very unlikely that Goldman leadership failed to notice the extremely generous fee to arrange a loan: $ 600 million dollars. If that is indeed chump change at Goldman, they need to be scrutinized for a lot more than this nefarious deal.
7
Put a fish in water and it will swim. Create a lax regulatory environment that rewards the ambitious and greedy, and this is inevitable.
37
@Joe Yes, it's like house training a puppy. If you don't get it right then, they'll poop all over the house when they're grown up. Goldman never got that message of staying within the rules or else.
2
I know it's something of a cliche to suggest that "it won't make you happy", but let's not kid ourselves: it must feel insanely good to step aboard your own gleaming yacht, accompanied by Victoria's Secret models. That's why these guys are doing this, right? Right?
15
@Jaybird actually there has been a study and money does make you happy....
@coale johnson
Sure, but I thought there was only a negligible effect after you hit the 75 K mark (obviously this number would change a bit based on where you live and with how many dependents). Having NO money= unhappiness for sure.
1
The buck stops at Lloyd’s desk. It is time for him to leave
Under his leadership Goldman Sachs is more known for its corruption than its good deeds. Remember 2008?
Bonuses were given to Executives no penalties or jail time for their malfeasance. I guess crime does pay.
71
@Jean
Actually, you stop way too short, although you are right that the fish "rots from its head." [Not your words, of course.]
"Too big to fail" looked at one way - and it IS the way of the financial world - means being able to "shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it." (Prudery keeps me from referencing grabbing people by ...)
Seriously, is a million dollar fine - couched in "no admission of guilt" - meaningful when (I think I read this right) $600 MILLION in ill-gotten gains was the "apple" that led Goldman astray. (Not even $10 MM, which is how law enforcement people tend to think - "That will get their attention." Um ... NO IT WON'T!)
There was a time when the government, recognizing that AT&T could charge whatever the heck it wanted to its 100 million residential and business customers, thought that was worth litigating.
Similarly, just as the Europeans have tinkered with no holds barred capitalism WITHOUT destroying it, a Justice Department that had a mainstream view of what its name meant ... might recognize that the needs of the few have come to ride roughshod over the needs of us MANY!
Wall Street was willing to "go to the wall" to prevent 2008's near-death experience from leading to a return to "banking should be separate from speculation." (The same institution should NOT engage in BOTH!)
Time to recognize that this is "elementary" - if you put a cookie jar on the dinner table, "healthy eating" is not going to win out!
18
When the next financial crises hits, these guys will buy all the foreclosed homes they can for a pittance. Behold your new landlord. Game over for the middle class.
50
@RjW That would happen if we lock them up, through the keys and send them to the cleaners.
1
@RjW
The game isn't over until we give up.
We outnumber the richest .01%, 10,000:1
Why do we put up with mass looting by the mega rich?
4
@McGloin
You ask why? Because they have more money than we do and they can afford to influence our leeches in Washington. AKA Senators and "Representatives" they represent one interest....their own.
8
"Somebody's going to use phones away from us, and personal this and personal that."
If Mr. Blankfein admittedly cannot trust his own employees, how can we? For individuals who trade in deals and sums of this magnitude the temptation will always be too great. The only solution is stronger regulation and real consequences when anyone is caught cheating. This will of course precipitate the squeals of 'government interference' we are so used to.
43
I still do not understand how Goldman was not broken up or liquidated after the financial crisis. It is not too late.
The next appointee from Government Sachs to any position in our government should be sharply questioned about the firm and the prevalent "heads I win, tails you lose" culture there.
51
If you don't listen to compliance, it doesn't matter who is/isn't in compliance. Management needs to listen to them.
19
- I'm shocked, shocked that bank shenanigans are going on.
- Justice delayed is justice denied. And in the case of bankers, it's usually delayed for ever.
71
@Unconvinced ah yes. but obama wanted to "look forward" and none of these people were properly investigated.
5
Goldman Sachs controls so much wealth that they can well afford a top notch compliance department.They cannot blame compliance .If they were serious about due diligence they would develop a compliance that would catch the schemes of their employees.It would take more money and they have plenty of it.
58
But for the rich, it’s never enough.
27
@JanetMichael great point. on the few government contracts i ever bid on? if the entity asking for bids did not hire a company to verify compliance in the performance of the work? let the cheating begin!
1
The pervasiveness of this corruption extends throughout Wall Street. The Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, aka the “Foreclosure King”, is a graduate of Goldman. Until people start serving actual jail time, nothing will change.
198
@Gary
Yes, notice that Trump has fired most of the alt-right and filled his cabinet with establishment global billionaires. Populism and nationalism are scams that harness the anger of an abused middle class and direct attention away from the rich and powerful that make the decisions and toward other workers who are in the same situation.
Republicans (with help from centrist Democrats) are the ones that the open the borders with Unfettered Free Trade. They have no problem firing U.S. workers, taking our productive capital, and shipping it and the jobs to other countries. Sending raw materials, machinery and patents out of the country and bringing back finished goods (with an average tariff of only 1.4% even under Trump) is worse for the USA than having immigrants spend money and pay taxes here.
But Republicans only care about borders when they can use immigrants (who they hire after they fire you) for political scams.
Trump didn't change any of the fundamental abuses of U.S. sovereignty in NAFTA. He just changed a few numbers and the name.
As soon as Trump can change the name to Trump Pacific Partnership, he will sign the TPP too.
8
@Gary
The sacrificial lambs go to jail always. The big guys like Dimon and Blankfein they rub shoulders with Senators and get to write our financial laws and never step foot inside of a cell.
10
@Margo Channing Blankfein, is a democrat:)
I’ll believe things have changed when everyone involved ends up serving time. Real time in a real prison, the kind that is the only thing that would strike fear into these sociopaths. Until then, it’s business as usual, with the threats of fines and settlements serving as nothing more than theater in the undermining of society.
146
"In pleading guilty, he was ordered to forfeit nearly $44 million that he earned from scheme."
I hate when this happens to me. I make $100m (or whatever, who's counting) illegally and have to forfeit half of it in a plea.
What a deterrent.
170
@Sean Mann
He "earned" the $44 million? Maybe the writer meant "stole."
8
@SRF, "earn" for the billionaire class is a euphemism.
6
@SRF
Irony, dear SRF, irony...
2
Correction: "Goldman Sachs IS a vast financial fraud!"
77
Finally the great Vampire Squid brought to account.
Well, we shall see. I hope it is the end of this horrific outfit.
17
Not holding my breath that the "great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly sticking its blood funnel into anything smelling of money" will ever pay any price for its crimes.
59
Wall Street greed brought the recession and controls. Trump lined the White House with GS and removed regulations. How long until the next implosion?
52
Failure to prosecute comes back at us, over and over again, as the same people and same behavior happen again and again. Prosecution might have deterred it, but lack of prosecution certainly encouraged it.
This applies to the huge financial crimes of Wall Street, and also to the war crimes of Dubya's Admin. The same people are back, doing it again, or still, in both instances.
I understand why Gerry Ford pardoned Nixon, and why Obama did not turn his first term into prosecutions of the last Admin, but it has a high price, and was a mistake.
73
@Mark Thomason
Another big mistake was when Democrats in the Senate did not fire Bill Clinton for lying under oath. It does not matter why he lied. Once faced with a choice between being embarrassed by his own behavior and lying under oath as president of the Untied States, Clinton should have put the Presidency and the USA above his personal interests.
The fact that Clinton decided to undermine the Constitution by lying under oath makes it far easier for Republicans to excuse Trump's constant lying to the People, and putting his interests above the People's.
The policies that the two-fer presidency actually implemented were Republican policies. Their morals are essentially Republican morals. They pushed supply side economics and gave the Republicans what they wanted, with nothing but blame in return. They even helped disenfranchise minorities by putting millions in prison with an expanded drug war and Three Strikes. The Clintons are Republicans in sheep's clothing and until the Democratic Party cuts them loose, they will not be able to move the Country forward.
3
@Mark Thomason
Well, if Obama demanded prosecutions then do you think Wall Street would be paying him his $400 K speaking fees or $60 million (for him and his wife) or payback funneled as "book deals" as if either of them will ever actually write a book (other than hiring "ghosts")? Give me a break.
4
@Mark Shyres
You might add Hillary to that list as well, if she were POTUS then we could have definitely counted on nothing being done as well.
2
We should have put these thieves in jail after they caused the last financial crisis.
126
@Joe B.
They have many friends in high places. That assures them of being untouchable.
1
I sort of regret having (involuntarily) donated my retirement funds to these people ten years ago.
48
@Peter Me too!
2
I’m shocked. Who could ever have predicted such behavior?
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Rolling Stone magazine's Matt Taibbi once described Goldman Sachs as "the great American bubble machine" and, more colorfully, wrote: "The world's most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money." Behavior like that won't change until its officers and board go to jail. Problem is, so many have contacts or have taken positions at the highest levels of government, they're untouchable.
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@Bill Greene John Galbraith claimed that Goldman Sachs help create the Great Depression. Thus bad behaviour from Goldman Sachs is to be expected.
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@Bill Greene
Bubble Machine is an apt term.
The big players in the market can manipulate small investors and to some extent retirement funds by creating bubbles and popping them.
They bid up the prices off a certain asset, and while it climbs the small investors get excited and pile on. Then one day, all of the big investors pull out. That bubble is now profit. The small investors can't respond as quickly. A few days later as the asset plummets in value, the small investors start to sell and the big investors take their pile of cash and buy out the small investors at bargain prices.
According to the Treasury Department, the 2008 Great Recession resulted in a transfer of 40% of the wealth of 99% of us to the richest 1% in the country. This was accomplished by creating a bubble out of junk real estate securities they sold as AAA, then popping that bubble. They paid some slap on the wrist fines and no one went to jail. They saw all upside and no downside.
Why wouldn't they do it again and again?
Article One of the U.S. Constitution says that traders should be taxed and regulated. Republicans are against that. They run on the promise that they won't follow the Constitution. Instead they borrow to cut taxes.
The preamble says how we should spend the money to create a more perfect Union (not divide and conquer.):
Promote Justice and Tranquility. Law and order are necessary, but not sufficient.
Defence, not global Offense.
Promote the General Welfare,
Liberty for All...
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@Bill Greene
Blankfein will never see a day in court or jail. He's too big to jail and he has friends where it counts.
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Obama's deal with Wall Street for impunity for the Great Recession, and our revolving door between government and Sachs, has only invited corruption...tip of the iceberg; looks like it can't be ignored now? Hedge funders next?
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@Fran Cisco
Gee how interesting that you blame Obama but, forget that it was the Bush administration who took away the regulations that would have prevented the crisis the first place. Obama was able to put in place the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act although the majority of Republicans wanted to do nothing and prosecute no one. In addition, when Republican's retained control of the Congress and White House in 2016 went back and weakened or took away these regulations again to set up the next crisis putting wall street personnel in government positions.
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@Mark
And or course it was during the Clinton
administration that the Glass-Steagall Act, that separated commercial banking from investment banking, was repealed.
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@Fran Cisco
Yes the Great Recession was a bipartisan affair, but Republicans have the ultimate responsibility as they had control over the Presidency for eight years, and Congress for most of the twelve years leading up to the recession.
The slump in GDP began in 2007 and the Tarp was signed by Bush in 2008.
Obama essentially ended the recession with his stimulus plan, weak as it was.
The roots of the disaster was laid down with bipartisan legislation that deregulated global investment banks and derivatives, signed by Clinton, and only opposed by left Democrats and Bernie Sanders.
The Bush Administration slashed regulators and the IRS, making it more difficult to stop fraud. When Enron was manipulating the price of energy with scams like closing down power plants for no other reason, Cheney famously said the markets would fix the problem. Markets can only fix manipulation by crashing.
However, Obama, a centrist compromiser, bending over backwards to appease Republicans and global bankers, also decided not to prosecute the CEOs that were
committing mass fraud. Instead he made sure they got their bonuses.
Centrist Democrats keep helping Republicans help the mega rich commit fraud, so they end up taking responsibility for Republican policy and transferring it to Democrats.
If Democrats stayed true to their values and principles, instead of constantly compromising with a party that never compromises, they would stop more fraud and win more elections.
17
There is only much a good compliance department can do. If bankers wants to cheat and lie, they will be able to get away with anything. Goldman needs to examine its relentless culture of pursuing profit, that’s the heart of the matter. Good luck changing human greed!
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@Bruce W
Wha...? I thought they were only doing God's work..there's a historical joke behind that old one Lloyd tossed about after the last crash, but it's anti-Semitic owing to the fact JPMorgan didn't hire Jewish persons until the 1960s.
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@Bruce W Yes, the problem with enforcing compliance is that a company's leadership has to stand behind the compliance department, and not just holding it as a fig leave to cover up misdeeds. The failing here originates with the past and present leadership at Goldman. If a ten percent fee for merely arranging (!) a loan doesn't raise alarm bells, what will?
2
Again, another problem!
A very interesting and concerned article on Goldman-Sachs past "issues" can be found below. The article covers decades of problematic dealings and issues at the firm:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#Role_in_the_financial_crisis_of_2007-2008
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@Majortrout Why aren't they in jail?
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