Angelides Threatens Goldman With Audit
For a commission with no ostensible power outside of the subpoena, Phil Angelides and the FCIC continue making headlines in their battle with Goldman Sachs, this time with a leak to the FT.
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Goldman Sachs is facing a threat by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to bring in outside accountants to comb through the bank’s systems for data on its derivatives business, the panel’s chairman has said.
The commission will not back down from demands for information Goldman’s executives have maintained they do not track, Phil Angelides told the Financial Times.
“We have a deep level of questioning about whether we’re getting the straight scoop here and whether Goldman is working with us on information that they surely have,” Mr Angelides, chairman of the US Congress-appointed commission.
Mr Angelides said he remained sceptical that Goldman did not have the derivatives information, given the bank’s reputation for risk management and its discipline in marking the value of every position daily. “It’s not credible that that’s a black hole,” Mr Angelides said. “It defies logic that these institutions have no clue of how much money they are making or losing from these derivatives.”
“We’ll pursue all of our options,” Mr Angelides said. “We’re going to continue to press this very hard.”
Jul 26, 2010 at 2:45 PM
Reader Comments (2)
That isn't a real movie title. But filmmaker Ric Burns, who created the PBS series "The Civil War" with his brother Ken, is shooting a documentary about the Wall Street firm. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is paying for the film, has editorial control and is overseeing the project through its marketing department, a Goldman spokesman said.
Mr. Burns, who didn't return phone calls seeking comment, was approached by Goldman in 2007 and has been tackling the documentary on and off since then. The company's history goes all the way back to the day in 1869 when German immigrant Marcus Goldman opened a one-room office on Pine Street in lower Manhattan, near the firm's new headquarters.
More and more Americans realize that promises of security do not create security. More and more Americans realize that the United States government creates insecurity and disorder.
The United States government does not deserve the tax dollars it collects. This is the fundamental bread-and-butter reason for ending the Union. The Constitution allows massive tax collections for purposes enunciated by Washington. There is no way to stop this process, which is killing the country, except by undoing the political foundation by which it is enforced.
The stream of tax dollars flowing to Washington can be turned off by the action of one or more state legislatures who act on behalf of their citizens. When that source of financing is halted, the United States government will be well on its way to breakup. This is the great gift that we should bestow on ourselves and future Americans.
Americans will remain. America will remain. The nation will remain. The People will remain. The country will remain. The United States government is none of these things. It will go. With that burden lifted from our shoulders, we can once again make our way to better lives. We can renew a process of liberation and liberty that has been frustrated.
July 26, 2010
Michael S. Rozeff [send him mail] is a retired Professor of Finance living in East Amherst, New York. He is the author of the free e-book Essays on American Empire.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/rozeff/rozeff328.html