After drubbing, Goldman mulling deal with SEC

Settlement day
By MARK DeCAMBRE
April 29, 2010

Goldman Sachs may soon settle its fraud case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, opting to end the legal fight rather than endure a repeat of the public flogging it received Tuesday in Washington, sources familiar with the matter told The Post.

After 11 hours of accusations by members of the Senate Subcommittee on Permanent Investigations, people close to the bank said Goldman is mulling closing the SEC fraud-case chapter on the belief the firm's reputation, already damaged, might not endure a street fight with the Wall Street watchdog.

"It's almost a certainty that there will be a settlement," said a source.

As another person put it, the SEC has an "unlimited supply of ammunition" in the form of e-mails and records that it could release, and Goldman officials would like to avoid having those documents fired back at them the way they were on Tuesday.

A Goldman spokesman declined to comment.

The SEC on April 16 announced that it had sued the Wall Street giant on charges it misled investors about the details of a mortgage-securities deal in which billionaire hedge fund king John Paulson influenced some of the collateral used in the transaction and then bet against its performance.

The SEC also sued Goldman mortgage trader Fabrice Tourre, who's been accused of concealing Paulson's involvement when marketing the deal to investors.

Up to now, Goldman, which has endured a withering fusillade of criticism from the public and politicians, has declared that the SEC's case against it and Tourre has "no basis in fact."

However, the growing view inside the firm is that Goldman may not be able to afford going toe-to-toe with the SEC in the court of public opinion if the civil case were to head to trial.

Indeed, the bank and how it does business was on full display Tuesday as senators took turns beating up on current and former employees over their alleged roles in the housing crisis, citing a slew of e-mails aimed at portraying the firm as unethical.

The SEC filed its charges after months of discussions with the bank over the claims. However, sources said the agency pulled the trigger on suing the bank out of frustration for what it saw as Goldman dragging its feet toward a resolution.

One source refuted the notion that Goldman had a chance to settle the claims before the SEC sued, adding the agency "took the unprecedented step of filing its lawsuit against a public company in the middle of the morning while the stock was still trading.

"So, the idea that [the firm] should have settled this months ago bears no resemblance to reality. [The firm] was never given the chance," the source said.

Meanwhile, according to reports late yesterday, Goldman is in talks over a possible settlement involving a hedge fund investor that claims it went bust after it took a $100 million investment in Timberwolf, an overnight sensation for being dubbed by a senior Goldman exec as a "shi- -y deal." Basis Yield Alpha Fund claims losses of $56 million, reports said, citing sources.