Goldman Nemesis Says Bank Misleading Lawmakers

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 30, 2009 3:44 PM CDT

(Newser) – Matt Taibbi, who portrayed Goldman Sachs as evil personified in a much-discussed Rolling Stone article over the summer, has the bank in his sights again. In his blog on True/Slant, Taibbi accuses Goldman of misleading and purposely confusing lawmakers about the practice known as naked short selling as new financial rules are debated. The blog is a sneak peek at another investigative piece he's got coming out this month, this time on the collapse of Lehman and Bear Stearns.

Among his beefs is that Goldman is giving lawmakers a fact sheet that he calls bogus because it draws conclusions on naked short selling based on stats from normal short selling. "This is like trying to draw conclusions about the frequency of date rape by looking at the number of weddings held," he writes. "The two things have absolutely nothing to do with one another." One economist agrees and tells him, "Members of Congress are probably confused as well.”

[Images (1)]

[Quotes (1)]

A Goldman Sachs official directs trading for the initial public offering of Artio Global Investors on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange last month. (AP Photo/Henny Ray Abrams)

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Naked short-selling is a kind of counterfeiting scheme in which short-sellers sell shares of stock they either don’t have or won’t deliver to the buyer. - Matt Taibbi, True/Slant

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 3 comments

wwwonderer

Sep 30, 2009 10:57 AM CDT

Precisely why I think Cheney and Bush never did.

JoeQ

Sep 30, 2009 10:16 AM CDT

Regular short selling is okay - it assist liquidity. Naked short selling is not okay - it gives traders the power to crush entire companies at will. They keep trying to outlaw it but its like outlawing cockroaches because of all the sneaky ways of getting around whatever laws are on the books. If they allow it to continue uncontrolled, congress may as well just turn over the economy to Goldman Sachs.

Fondue

Sep 30, 2009 8:49 AM CDT

Sounds like they need to remind these bankers that it is a federal offense to mislead/lie to Congress under oath.

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True/Slant (Source Grid »)

Here's Taibbi's original article on Goldman Sachs
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Wall Street • Goldman Sachs • Rolling Stone • short selling • banking industry • naked short selling • Matt Taibbi

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