Goldman Sachs Group said it will examine claims by an employee who quit Wednesday that executives "callously" talk about "ripping their clients off" in order to make more money for the securities firm.
The pledge was part of a daylong scramble by the New York company to contain potential damage from the public attack. The employee, 33-year-old Greg Smith, wrote in the New York Times that he had decided to walk away from his 12-year career at Goldman because of the firm's "toxic and destructive" culture—a 1,270-word denunciation that ricocheted around the world in sharply divided tweets, Facebook comments and blog posts.
At Goldman, the op-ed prompted anger toward Mr. Smith and new introspection among executives stung by persistent outside criticism of the company since the financial crisis began. Unlike previous incidents in which Goldman seemed to be caught flat-footed, company officials quickly launched a public-relations counteroffensive Wednesday that minimized Mr. Smith's role at the firm.
In a memo to employees, Goldman Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd C. Blankfein and President Gary D. Cohn wrote that Mr. Smith was one "of nearly 12,000 vice presidents" among more than 30,000 employees at the company.
Mr. Smith couldn't be reached for comment. He left his London office after work Tuesday and resigned shortly before the article was published, according to a person familiar with the situation. Mr. Smith, who had been a Goldman vice president for six years, posted a link to the article on his Facebook page…
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