Goldman Dodges Damning Questions

As Code Pink protesters yell 'these guys are crooks'

(NEWSER) - Goldman Sachs took its lumps on Capitol Hill today, with the Senate investigations subcommittee berating it for taking positions against the securities it was selling. After a brief protest from Code Pink, chairman Carl Levin began the hearing by saying Goldman had treated its customers "not as valuable customers but as objects for its own profit.” Susan Collins followed up: “Clearly, this system must be reformed,” she said, “so that Wall Street banks do not act as unscrupulous operators who seek to profit from the public's misfortune.” More»

Goldman Sachs exec Fabrice Tourre faces Senate panel

(AP) - Fabrice Tourre, the 31-year-old trader who is the only company official directly accused in the SEC suit against Goldman Sachs, testified today that he does not recall telling investors a Goldman hedge fund client had bought into an investment that soured. "I deny categorically the SEC's allegation," Tourre told a Senate subcommittee. "And I will defend myself in court against this false claim." More»

Move could presage criminal charges

(NEWSER) - Goldman Sachs officials believe federal prosecutors are about to slap them with a series of subpoenas as it follows up on the scathing report on the company from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Sources tell the Wall Street Journal that they expect the Justice Department to come knocking within days, seeking documents and other information. More»

Goldman CEO doesn't give ground to Senator Levin

(NEWSER) - Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein dueled with Sen. Carl Levin as the final witness in today's daylong grilling of company execs. The two went round and round, then round and round again, the same fundamental point without "speaking the same language," writes Frank Ahrens, who's live-blogging the proceedings at the Washington Post. "Levin was speaking a political language; Blankfein, a financial one." More»

Bankers' lingo reveals firm's real intentions, if you know how to read it

(NEWSER) - The Senate panel investigating Goldman Sachs will have an easier job if it embraces one profound truth, Jonathan Weil writes for Bloomberg : "What you must realize, foremost, is that Goldman's employees speak their own distinct language." Some translations:

• Sophisticated, as in "among the most sophisticated mortgage investors in the world," means "susceptible to predators, all in all an easy mark."