Lawsuit: Shareholder vs. Goldman Sachs

Here is the lawsuit. Click here. (PDF)

MANHATTAN (CN) - Goldman Sachs is using taxpayer money and wasting corporate assets to pay billions more dollars in pay and bonuses than it does to shareholders, according to a derivative complaint in New York County Court.

The company earned $2.32 billion and paid $4.82 in bonuses in 2008; it paid more than 259 percent of its net income as compensation in the first quarter of 2009 and more than 193 percent of its net income in the second quarter, according to the complaint.

Named plaintiff Ken Brown says Goldman Sachs routinely spends about 50 percent of its net revenue in pay and bonuses, regardless of the bank's performance or "shareholder outrage."

Over the past few years, Goldman contributed to "a worldwide economic crisis," took $13 billion from the AIG bailout and a $10 billion loan from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to the complaint.
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