SEC vs. Goldman Sachs
Confused about why the SEC sued Goldman Sachs for fraud, and what it means?
Here’s about as succinct a summary as I’ve seen, from the inimitable Michael Lewis:
Just as there was a time when people could smoke on airplanes, or drive drunk without guilt, there was a time when a Wall Street bond trader could work with a short seller to create a bond to fail, trick and bribe the ratings companies into blessing the bond, then sell the bond to a slow-witted German without having to worry if anyone would ever know, or care, what he’d just done.
That just changed.
–Michael Lewis, “Bond Market Will Never Be the Same After Goldman“; Bloomberg (4/22/10)
Brilliant — and exactly right!
