The Cost of Goldman's Freedom

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: Fox Business

First the easy part: Goldman Sachs (GS) officials have come to the conclusion they need to settle the high-profile civil fraud case recently filed by Securities and Exchange Commission over the firm’s sale of toxic debt to investors who lost big bucks on the deal.

Now the hard part: Paying the bill, which, according to legal experts, rival CEOs and even people inside Goldman, could range anywhere from $1 billion to $5 billion. While such numbers are nothing more than estimates, and certainly won’t break Goldman’s bank, since it earned more than $12 billion last year and is set to do the same this year, they are high enough to give shareholders some concern, analysts say.

Part of the problem with estimating damages and fines at this point is the uncertainty over the legal cases and investigations the firm faces. In addition to the SEC’s civil fraud case, Goldman also faces a wide-ranging investigation by UK regulators, as well as shareholder and class-action lawsuits that have been filed in the wake of the SEC’s action.

The SEC, meanwhile, referred its case to the Justice Department, which launched a criminal probe, albeit a routine one, and now Goldman is also now being investigated by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry’s self regulator, for failing to notify the agency that SEC had issued a “Wells Notice” signaling the enforcement staff was recommending charging the firm until after the charges were made public.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/industries/finance/cost-goldmans-freedom/

[Angry Dragon]

1. I say pay back all monies stolen

and if that causes then to fail then that is okay. They would not worry about you if you stole from somebody.