Goldman Buys the Law on the Cheap

Yes, that should be the proper headline for the settlement of Goldman Sachs, the Emperor of Fraudsters, with SEC.

Via AP News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Goldman Sachs & Co. has agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges that the Wall Street giant misled buyers of mortgage-related investments.

The settlement was announced by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday, hours after Congress gave final approval to the stiffest restrictions on banks and Wall Street since the Great Depression.

The deal calls for Goldman to pay the SEC fines of $300 million. The rest of the money will go to compensate those who lost money on their investments.

The penalty was the largest against a financial company in SEC history. The settlement amounts to less than 5 percent of Goldman’s 2009 net income of $12.2 billion after payment of dividends to preferred shareholders — or a little more than two weeks of net income.

Word that Goldman had settled began leaking about a half hour before the market closed on Thursday and appeared to please investors. Goldman had been trading at about $140 a share. The stock rose to close at $145.22, up $6.16, and shot up to $153.60 in after-hours trading.

The stock rose over 6 bucks in the last few mins of regular trading and another 6 bucks after the close based on “rumors”. One would think that it is illegal. To those who would cry foul about this leak I say, “Welcome to America wher the bigger the fraus, the better protected you are.”

This settlement is a disgrace to SEC, more specifically to the Democrats, who essentially got sold out. Zero Hedge opines:

This is all that Goldman consents was done wrong, without admitting or denying guilt:

Goldman acknowledges that the marketing materials for the ABACUS 2007-ACI transaction contained incomplete information. In particular, it was a mistake for the Goldman marketing materials to state that the reference portfolio was “selected by” ACA Management LLC without disclosing the role of Paulson & Co. Inc. in the portfolio selection process and that Paulson’s economic interests were adverse to CDO investors. Goldman regrets that the marketing materials did not contain that disclosure.

We, in turn, regret that America no longer has a fair and just legal system

There is still some vague hope that a Judge Rakoff wannabe will block this travesty of justice but we are not holding our breath. And sorry Fab Fab, you are still going to be the sacrificial lamb (for now).