(Newser)
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Looks like Goldman Sachs is off the hook for its role in the financial crisis. The Justice Department and Securities Exchange Commission have ended two investigations into the bank's role in the crisis, concluding that "there is not a viable basis to bring a criminal prosecution with respect to Goldman Sachs or its employees," Reuters reports. The Justice probe came after a Senate subcommittee concluded that Goldman misled its clients about toxic securities and shared much of the blame for the crisis.
"We are pleased that this matter is behind us," said a spokesman for the bank, which paid a record $550 million to settle a crisis-related civil case in 2010—without admitting wrongdoing. The end of the Goldman investigations signals that federal probes into the crisis are fizzling out ahead of the deadline to file cases, notes the New York Times. The Justice Department, the SEC, and other federal regulators are still pursuing a number of financial crisis-related cases, but the Goldman case was their last shot at taking on a major case to punish Wall Street for its role in the crisis.
