Subpoena Lands on Doorstep of Goldman Sachs – Law Blog – WSJ

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has subpoenaed Goldman seeking information on its business dealings, a move prompted by a recent U.S. Senate report that was highly critical of the bank.

Here’s a WSJ report on the development, and one from AP. The reports do not offer details about the precise scope of the subpoena.

In its 639-page report, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in April accused Goldman of betting against the housing market and failing to adequately warn investors about the dangers of risky mortgage securities it promoted.

Goldman has said repeatedly that it simultaneously took “long” and “short” positions on mortgages as part of its normal business, WSJ reported in this earlier piece about the Senate report. Goldman usually had a bullish overall bet during the housing crisis and thus suffered losses when the real-estate bubble burst, according to WSJ.

via Subpoena Lands on Doorstep of Goldman Sachs – Law Blog – WSJ.

U.S. says Credit Suisse schemed to evade sanctions | Reuters

U.S. and Manhattan prosecutors detailed on Wednesday a “decades-long scheme” by Credit Suisse to hide thousands of transactions on behalf of clients in Iran, Sudan, Libya and other nations, and said the Swiss bank had agreed to pay $538 million in fines.

More than $1.6 billion was moved through the U.S. financial system through the transactions, prosecutors said.

Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau told a news conference that other banks were being investigated for similar transactions.

“There will be other prosecutions,” he said. “Not only of financial institutions, which carry the money, but also of the suppliers.”

In Zurich, a source who declined to be identified, said nine banks were involved and that four had settled, including Lloyds TSB Group of Britain and Credit Suisse.

While the majority of the transactions involved Iran, other transactions violated U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Libya, Myanmar, Cuba, and the former Liberian regime of Charles Taylor, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

The department called the settlement the “most significant” in the history of its Office of Foreign Assets Control and said the penalty could have been “substantially higher” had the bank not cooperated with the government over the past two years and agreed to take remedial action.

via U.S. says Credit Suisse schemed to evade sanctions | Reuters.