Simply Politics & News

[makesumgravy]

This guy looks like Michael Corleone
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/36601813#36601813

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36597290 These charges are far more severe than anyone had imagined," and suggest Goldman teamed with "the leading short-seller in the industry to design a portfolio of securities that would crash," said John Coffee, a securities law professor at Columbia Law School in New York.
"The greatest penalty for Goldman is not the financial damages -- Goldman is enormously wealthy -- but the reputational damage," he said, adding that "it's not impossible" to contemplate that the case could lead to criminal charges. Coffee spoke on Reuters Insider.

Goldman vowed to defend itself.

"The SEC's charges are completely unfounded in law and fact," it said. "We will vigorously contest them and defend the firm and its reputation."

E-mails from former Washington Mutual Inc CEO Kerry Killinger read aloud during a congressional hearing this week illustrated clients' concerns about working with Goldman.

In 2007, Killinger discussed hiring Goldman or another investment bank to help Washington Mutual find ways to reduce its credit risk or raise new capital, according to one of the e-mails, which Michigan Democratic Sen Carl Levin read during the hearing.

"I don't trust Goldie on this," Levin quoted one of Killinger's e-mails as saying. "They are smart, but this is swimming with the sharks. They were shorting mortgages big-time while they were giving (Countrywide Financial Corp) advice."