Goldman Sachs & Co is expected to be fined about US$30 million by British authorities following an investigation of the big Wall Street bank’s activities in London, according to news reports on Wednesday.
The investigation by Britain’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) began in April after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil fraud charges against Goldman Sachs for allegedly misleading buyers of complex mortgage-related investments in 2007. Goldman settled the charges in mid-July by agreeing to pay US$550 million — the largest penalty against a Wall Street firm in the history of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Goldman’s agreement to pay the British fine is imminent, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times reported online on Wednesday. Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally in New York declined to comment on Wednesday.
The FSA was not immediately available for comment.
The Journal said that Goldman would acknowledge an error in its regulatory disclosures to the British agency regarding Fabrice Tourre, a London-based executive accused by the SEC of orchestrating the mortgage-linked securities deal. Tourre was promoted and moved to the company’s London office to become executive director of Goldman Sachs International in late 2008. Tourre has denied any wrongdoing and has asked a federal court to throw out the SEC case.
The SEC charges were the most significant legal action related to the mortgage meltdown that pushed the US into recession. They dealt a blow to the reputation of a Wall Street powerhouse that had emerged relatively unscathed from the financial crisis.
Goldman neither admitted nor denied legal wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement with the SEC. It did acknowledge, however, that its marketing materials for the investment deal at the center of the charges omitted key information for buyers.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2