Goldman Sachs's "Settlement" and "Not-a-Full-Fraud-When-Done-To-Itself" Defense

It is well understood that journalists like to get their facts correct when they report, for instance, on Goldman Sachs's activities. We have been documenting Goldman Sachs's behavior on this blog since 2009 and their activities are altogether very bad smelling.

Mr. Robert Lenzner, you do not need to be so humble. Read our postings and you will see that Goldman Sachs has committed perjury, accounting control fraud, securities fraud, bad to non-existent underwriting of securities made up of sub-prime mortgages. Goldman has been variously described as fraudulent, predatory and misleading.

You do not need to castigate yourself for using the word "Crimes" to describe Goldman because Goldman knows it has been criminal and fraudulent in its behavior by selling those AAA rated CDOs to unsuspecting pension and savings funds in order to make big fees. They know they made a big bet with CDSs on the collapse of the mortgage system (to which they contributed) and they know they paid themselves huge bonuses and salaries during a financial crisis and at the expense of the ordinary citizens of the US.

We can say with certainty that Goldman Sachs has acted in an unethical and immoral manner, which, unfortunately, is not considered illegal.

The Senate subcommittee report presented by Levin and Coburn found ample evidence of Goldman Sachs's crimes as did the FCIC report. It is only because the Justice System and the regulatory bodies have decided not to investigate and prosecute Goldman Sachs's crimes that makes Goldman Sachs smell so sweet. Phewww!

We don't hate Goldman Sachs, just its behavior. Right now, Occupy Wall Street is asking for its "Correction" of Wall Street behavior.

Goldman Sachs Requests A Correction
By Robert Lenzner - Forbes

I was given a lesson in semantics this morning over my story about “Wall Street Paying For Its Crimes.” No, the GS spokeswoman said, “We did not pay a fine. The $550 million payment “was a settlement.” And yes, it was true that a civil “settlement” of the mortgage backed bond offering, “Abacus” did not literally fit the term “crime” that I used in the headline. ( I plead guilty to writing too many hasty blogs so as to reach the 500,000 visitors the boss has in mind for me)

And, the GS sp0kesperson reminded me, since Goldman bought part of Abacus for itself, I w as not permitted to describe the entire event as a “fraud.” Goldman Sachs is nothing if not perspicacious in following up on any perceived misrepresentation. And since I am not of Rolling Stone, I’m putting this forward. Let’s see if the professional GS haters get on me for this.

See the article here