Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Suit claims Goldman failed to disclose SEC probe

When it rains, it pours with Goldman...

WSJ:


NEW YORK—A Goldman Sachs Group Inc. shareholder filed a lawsuit Monday against the bank, accusing the firm of failing to disclose a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, asks for class-action status on behalf of other Goldman shareholders.

It is the third known case to be filed against Goldman Sachs since the SEC filed civil charges against the bank on April 16. Two other shareholder lawsuits were filed Friday in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan.

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

In its case, the SEC has alleged Goldman didn't tell investors in a structured financial product tied to subprime mortgages that hedge fund Paulson & Co. helped select the underlying portfolio of mortgages and had bet against the performance of the product. The transaction at issue in the SEC case was in early 2007 and is one of several so-called "Abacus" transactions.

The shareholder complaint filed Monday revolves around the so-called Wells notice that Goldman received sometime in the summer or fall of 2009 from the SEC relating to the Abacus transaction.

A Wells notice is a notification from a securities regulator that it intends to recommend enforcement action and affords the respondent an opportunity to explain why such an action is not appropriate.

The lawsuit, brought by shareholder Ilene Richman, alleges that Goldman Sachs executives failed to reveal that the company had received a Wells notice.

"Goldman chose not to issue a Form 8-K alerting investors to this event and later even omitted this information from its Form 10-Qs, while updating 'Legal Proceedings' as to other cases," the complaint alleges.

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