According to the good people at Reuters Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein has hired Reid Weingarten, a high-profile Washington defense attorney whose past clients include a former Enron accounting officer, according to a government source familiar with the matter.
Blankfein, 56, is in his sixth year at the helm of the largest U.S. investment bank, which has spent two years fending off accusations of conflicts of interest and fraud. The move to retain Weingarten comes as investigations of Goldman and its role in the 2007-2009 financial crisis continue.
The Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) in April released a scathing report that criticized Goldman for "exploiting" clients by unloading subprime loan exposure onto unsuspecting clients in 2006 and 2007, and concluded that its top executives misled Congress during testimony in 2010. The company has said it disagreed with many of the report's conclusions, but took seriously the issues addressed.
Goldman shares fell sharply shortly after Reuters reported Weingarten's hiring, closing down 4.7 percent at $106.51, their lowest level since March 2009. They slipped further in after-hours trade to $105.64.
There’s more where this comes from. Check out http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/22/us-goldman-blankfein-idUSTRE77L5VK20110822
No comments:
Post a Comment