Justice? and Goldman Sachs

We hope that Goldman Sachs's fate within the Justice System does, indeed, impact negatively on Lloyd Blankfein. However, when you consider how Mozilo, of Countrywide fame, merely paid a fine without having to admit any wrongdoing and walked away a millionaire with his fraudulently earned money, then how could Blankfein fare any worse? We surely need an Act of God in order to obtain a different outcome for Goldman Sachs. Maybe Justice Itself is sick.

Goldman CEO Blankfein's Fate in Hands of DOJ
By Charlie Gasparino - Fox Business

Wall Street executives and senior people inside Goldman Sachs (GS: 136.21, -0.13, -0.10%) say Lloyd Blankfein may want to hang on as CEO of the big Wall Street firm, but the final decision will not be his to make. Rather, his fate rests in the hands of the U.S. Justice Department, which is probing statements he made before a Senate committee investigating Goldman’s role in the 2008 financial crisis, FOX Business has learned.

If a probe by the DOJ into Goldman’s conduct ahead of the financial crisis is expedited and the focus turns to Blankfein’s actions, the thinking goes, Goldman’s board of directors will likely offer Blankfein up as a sacrifice in exchange for leniency.

In recent months, Blankfein has given mixed signals as to whether he will stay with the firm as scrutiny on Goldman from regulators has heated up. As FOX Business first reported, Blankfein has told friends on Wall Street that he hates his job and wouldn’t mind leaving. But at a recent shareholders meeting he indicated he has no intention of stepping down, at least in the immediate future.

But people inside Goldman with knowledge of the bank’s strategy believe the manner in which Blankfein ultimately leaves the firm may not be up to the CEO, but instead involves just how far the Justice Department goes in pursuing a case against Goldman.

The DOJ probe stems from a referral made by Senator Carl Levin's (D-Mich.) committee based on Blankfein’s testimony last spring on the firm’s role in the financial crisis.

In a hearing recalled largely for Levin’s repeated use of a four-letter word, Blankfein denied that Goldman had made huge bets shorting the mortgage market, which allowed the firm to fare better than its competitors during the housing crisis.

Blankfein insisted Goldman had simply hedged against a downturn.

Levin's committee has discovered e-mails which describe the position as "the big short."

In any case, the betting on Wall Street is that the DOJ will not bring charges against Blankfein.

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