Posted on 08/22/2011 2:38:27 PM PDT by mojito
Goldman Sachs Chief Executive 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 dodging 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 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission scored a $550 million settlement against the bank in a fraud lawsuit in July 2010, but other investigations continue.
"Why do you bring in someone like that?" said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly. "It says one thing: that they're taking it seriously."
Blankfein has not been charged in any civil or criminal case, and it was not immediately clear why he hired Weingarten.
David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman, declined to comment.
Weingarten did not respond to requests for comment.
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
All part of 0's reelection campaign: I can hear him now, going on about how he's going to "clean-up Wall Street, and all the speculators."
Let’s never forget that all of these yahoos were granted immediate NYC CCW permits the day all this crap started back in 2008. Impossible for joe citizen to obtain.
Obama is a lawyer. Why don’t they hire him?
As Johnny Carson used to say: “I did not know that.”
Interesting.
Weird, wild stuff.
Lloyd Blankfein
Now there's a headline you'd never expect to see. /s
Probably a good instinct. Might have something to do with this press release...Wall Street executives turn back on Obama, start donating to Romney.
Uh oh. Another high-profile Wall St. CEO is forced to cough up 1/15th of his wealth in order to avoid prison and without admitting guilt.
The statute of limitations can’t toll fast enough for these guys.
It does but not in the way you think. It's the NY AG who just stood up to pressure from the 0 admin.
Remember when Blankfein said Goldman was doing the “Lord’s work”. Yeah right, Allah’s maybe.
Lloyd... your lapdog is about to bite you!
Ivy League Mafia.
He looks like the mad nazi rocket scientist(Peter sellers) Dr.Strangelove in ... Dr strangelove.
This is a shot across the bow. The message has been sent:
"If you don't want some of the same, pony up."
Lloyd got nothing to fear that a good sized pile of money won’t fix. Count on it.
If prudent investors can only make .5% on short term assets, how does Goldman Sachs prosper?
Robert Rubin was a very powerful man. After 26 years and rising to the level of Co-Senior Partner, he left Goldman Sachs in 1994 to become Treasury Secretary in the Clinton Administration. His first major undertaking was during the Mexican bailout of 1995. ...
Rubin drew criticism in Congress for using a Treasury Department account under his personal control to distribute $20 billion to bail out Mexican bonds, of which Goldman was a key holder. For 1998, the first year which we have public financial information on Goldman Sachs, their total revenue was $22 billion and their net profit was $1.256 billion.
It is highly probable that the $20 billion was extremely helpful to Goldman Sachs -- if not essential to its continuing existence. And Robert Rubin had some very powerful friends. "In April 1998 Travelers Group announced an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger was completed on October 8, 1998.
The possibility remained that the merger would run into problems connected with federal law. Ever since the Glass-Steagall Act, banking and insurance businesses had been kept separate. Weill and Reed bet that Congress would soon pass legislation overturning those regulations... .
To speed up the process, they recruited...to the Board of Directors...Robert Rubin (Secretary of Treasury during Democratic Clinton Administration) whom Weill was close to...." (a short history of Sandy Weill's march to riches) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I think he prefer someone who wasn’t forced to surrender his license.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.