Spotlight on Goldman

The US Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs in April, alleging it had misled clients by not disclosing that a major hedge fund had helped select the underlying assets in a collateralised debt obligation and was planning to take a short position. But how widespread was this practice? By Peter Madigan

Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs, described it as one of the worst days in his professional career. Outside the firm, the revelation on April 16 that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had filed a lawsuit against Goldman Sachs for misleading its customers was met with astonishment, sending shares in the bank tumbling more than 12%. Just 11 days later, Blankfein and other senior officials from the firm were summoned to appear before the US Senate