Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive, and other senior executives at
Goldman Sachs have hired high-powered criminal defense attorneys to
represent them in government investigations into possible wrongdoing
at the investment bank, it emerged last night.
Blankfein is being advised by Reid Weingarten, a white-collar
crime defender at Steptoe & Johnson, whose previous clients include
notorious fraudsters Bernie Ebbers, chief executive of the bankrupt
telecoms firm WorldCom, and Richard Causey, accounting officer at
the collapse energy giant Enron.
The revelation sent shares in Goldman Sachs tumbling around 4 percent in the final minutes of trading in New York yesterday, as
investors who had believed the company's legal woes were largely
behind it reassessed that view.
Last year, Goldman paid a $550 million fine to settle civil charges that
it misled investors in one subprime mortgage investment vehicle,
but the Department of Justice was asked earlier this year to examine
additional evidence in a Congressional report into the investment
bank's trading operations. Blankfein was accused at the time of
painting a misleading picture in testimony he gave under oath.
