Goldman Still at the Heart of Crisis Investigations

The banking giant expects Federal subpoenas on its mortgage business.

(May 22, 2011) — Goldman Sachs may receive subpoenas from US prosecutors looking for more information about the firm’s mortgage-related business.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Goldman officials expect the Justice Department to demand additional background information within days. The subpoenas would follow a 639-page report on the financial crisis released last month by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which alleged that Goldman executives misled clients in order to reap profits, and then proceeded to lie to Congress when questioned about its actions. The lengthy report was completed after a two-year probe of the mortgage business that led to financial collapse. It concluded that Goldman mismanaged conflicts of interest, putting its interests above all others.

Already, the banking giant has released hundreds of millions of pages of information to the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and to the Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission, the WSJ reported. “Goldman is a high-octane, high-profile target,” Dick Beckler, a partner in Bracewell & Giuliani’s white-collar defence practice, told Reuters.

Earlier this month in a 10Q filing, Goldman Sachs disclosed that it is facing fraud charges over whether it improperly used investment accounts to conduct trades. According to the filing, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will recommend that the federal regulatory agency bring fraud charges against the banking giant over the firm’s role as clearing broker for an unnamed SEC-registered broker dealer. The CFTC has alleged that Goldman either “knew or should have known” that the broker-dealer’s sub-accounts at Goldman belonged to the dealer’s customers and weren’t the broker-dealer’s own accounts.

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Goldman may now face “aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges.” In its quarterly regulatory filing, Goldman noted that the CFTC investigation will focus on Goldman Sachs Execution & Clearing (GSEC), which provides clearing and trade execution services for Goldman clients that include hedge funds, companies, mutual funds and central banks.

The string of inquiries into Goldman Sachs’s behavior comes as the federal government is working with attorneys general around the country to reach a settlement with the biggest banks in the US over accusations of illegal foreclosures and fraudulent mortgage practices.



To contact the <em>aiCIO</em> editor of this story: Paula Vasan at <a href='mailto:pvasan@assetinternational.com'>pvasan@assetinternational.com</a>; 646-308-2742

Soros Hedge Fund Slashes Gold Investment

After famously calling gold 'the ultimate asset bubble,' George Soros, along with other leading investment funds, has sold gold and other metal stocks.

(May 18, 2011) — Billionaire investor George Soros’s $28 billion hedge fund has slashed its stake in a variety of gold investments.

In the face of a weakening in the US dollar in recent years, the billionaire investor and philanthropist had increased his stake in gold, silver and other precious metals. Yet, earlier this month, according to the Wall Street Journal, Soros’s New York-based fund — Soros Fund Management — decreased its holdings of the gold-backed exchanged-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust by 4.7 million shares to 49,400 shares, valued at $6.9 million at March 31.

The news is discouraging to gold investors because Soros has been perceived as a leader in pursuing gold over the past two years, according to Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott, a regional broker-dealer. “Anytime someone of that prominence and success from an investment management standpoint makes such a change in allocation, many investors are likely to follow,” he told aiCIO, adding that for a typical investor, gold is still a smart standalone investment when around 3-5% of a portfolio.

Reiterating the likelihood of herding behavior following Soros’s decision, Matt Zeman, head of trading at Kingsview Financial, told the Wall Street Journal: “I assume he was sitting on a gigantic mountain of profit in that position and the prudent thing to do would’ve been to book some of it. Because he’s leaving, you’re going to see a lot of small speculators jumping ship.”

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Similarly to Soros, who famously called gold “the ultimate asset bubble,” Dean Baker, co-director at the left-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington told aiCIO last month: “Gold has had a huge run-up – which suggests a bubble.” Baker has warned about institutional investors over-allocating to gold.

The previous metal, often viewed as a safe-haven during periods of crisis, is being increasingly scrutinized as an investment for pension and endowment funds. Following the recent purchase of nearly $1 billion in physical gold bullion by the University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO), Baker said: “I would not consider investing in gold. I assume they expect higher inflation, but I don’t understand it. I think it’s silly. In this case, I don’t see why UTIMCO would do this.”



To contact the <em>aiCIO</em> editor of this story: Paula Vasan at <a href='mailto:pvasan@assetinternational.com'>pvasan@assetinternational.com</a>; 646-308-2742

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