Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs (GS) is a global investment banking, investment management, and securities firm that works with individuals, financial institutions, corporations, and governments. Headquartered in New York City since its founding by Marcus Goldman in 1869, the firm has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) since 1896 and has offices at the largest financial hubs all over the world.

For 30 years, our investor lawyers at Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) have been representing individual investors and institutional investors in their broker fraud claims against Goldman Sachs and its registered representatives. We work with clients in the US, as well as those based abroad with claims against the firm.

Call us at (800) 259-9010 so that we can help you explore your legal options.

As subprime bonds were faltering during the 2007 mortgage crisis, Goldman Sachs profited through its short-selling of subprime mortgage bonds even as it bet on the failure of the market.

The end result was that the investment bank and its traders earned billions from selling hundreds of millions of dollars in high risk mortgage-backed securities, including those that were junk-rated. Investors would go on to sustain catastrophic losses as the housing bubble burst.

It wouldn’t be until 2016 when, in a deal reached with the US Department of Justice, that Goldman Sachs was held accountable for bundling, underwriting, marketing, and selling the residential mortgage backed securities (RMBS). As part of the settlement, the firm agreed to pay $5.06B. The funds were disbursed among several federal and state entities.

It wasn’t just that Goldman Sachs took advantage of investors during the subprime mortgage crisis. The firm also appeared to have known the collapse was coming and may have sought to benefit leading up to this major event.

This included creating synthetic collateralized debt obligations (CDO) under its Abacus brand that were worth $10.9B, which the firm then packaged and sold. The Abacus CDOs would go on to perform dismally.

In 2010, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed securities fraud charges against Goldman Sachs and Fabrice Tourre, now an ex-vice president with the firm, over the CDO sales. The regulator accused them of misleading investors. Goldman settled with the SEC for $300M and with investors for $250M.

According to a report in January 2020 from the nonprofit Better Markets, between 1999 and 2019 Goldman Sachs was the subject of 36 legal actions and paid 9.8B in fines and settlements. It also received $894B in bailout funds following the 2008 financial crisis.

Other civil and/or criminal allegations against the firm have included those involving high-frequency trading, insider trading, auction rate securities (ARS) fraud, overcharging municipalities for government securities, global benchmark rigging, illegal securities lending, and other claims.

In October 2020, in yet another deal reached with the DOJ and regulators, Goldman Sachs Group agreed to pay over $2B for its involvement in Malaysia’s 1MDB corruption scandal. As part of the agreement, the bank admitted to unwriting bond offerings that gave Malaysia’s state fund $6.5B.

Even when a state or federal regulator goes after the firm and its broker or investment manager responsible for your losses, it is important that you hire your own experienced investment fraud lawyers to file your own individual claim and fight for you.

Not only will this maximize your chances of a full financial recovery, but also you will have skilled legal professionals advocating for you while protecting your rights.

SSEK Law Firm has represented thousands of investors, collectively recovering many millions of dollars on their behalf. Contact us online or call us at (800) 259-9010 and ask for your free initial consultation with one of our broker fraud attorneys.

Our securities law firm has offices all over the United States. During the Coronavirus pandemic, we are meeting virtually and by phone with clients and prospective clients.