Goldman Sachs plans to cut bonuses as 1MDB scandal deepens

[nitpicker]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/goldman-sachs-plans-to-cut-bonuses-as-1mdb-scandal-deepens

Goldman Sachs plans to cut bonuses as 1MDB scandal deepens

Investment bank might withhold cash from former boss Lloyd Blankfein over firm’s involvement in Malaysian affair

Agence-France Presse

Sat 9 Feb 2019 04.22 GMT

Goldman Sachs’s decision to potentially cut bonuses for top executives over the 1MDB scandal reflects an acknowledgement of shareholder and public outrage over the debacle. The prestigious investment bank has announced that it could withhold millions of dollars in bonuses to former chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and two other retired executives depending on the outcome of ongoing inquiries into the Malaysian fund. The bonuses were first approved in 2011 and the annual payouts depend on the firm’s performance over the ensuing eight years. In Blankfein’s case, the bonus began at $7m and nearly doubled, according to US securities documents.

Beyond the bonuses, Goldman also said it could claw back compensation from the current chief executive, David Solomon, and two other current senior executives, president John Waldron and chief financial officer Stephen Scherr. Solomon was paid $23m last year, including $15.4m in stock options.

The announcement on bonuses was intended as a message for shareholders who are upset at how the corruption scandal has tarred the bank’s image at a time when it is working to build up its consumer banking business through the online platform Marcus, according to two people familiar with the matter. The board of directors wants shareholders to know it is not blind to the gravity of the situation, said one of the sources, adding that the message was not meant to be an admission of wrongdoing.
(snip)

US authorities have accused a Malaysian financial intermediary, Low Taek Jho, along with Leissner and another former Goldman banker, Ng Chong Hwa, of conspiring to launder billions of dollars from 1 Malaysia Development Berhad, a sovereign wealth fund set up for development of the country. Goldman garnered $600m in fees and revenues from 1MDB bond transactions. US officials maintain that more than $2.7bn in funds went to kickbacks and bribes.
(snip)

[democratisphere]

1. The greedmongering banksters must always be kept in check

otherwise they will continually end up like 2008 and be involved in criminal activity like the Malaysian Fund. Why should the retirees still be receiving compensation many years later? Who the hell wants to do business with crooked banks like Wells Fargo and Marcus. The f'ing wealthiest will never be satisfied and will continually blow up the system. Goldman Sachs should be put out of business.

[Hotler]

2. Lloyd Blankfein. "Just a banker doing Gods work."

The U.S. Justice Department identified about $1.7 billion in assets that it says were illegally acquired through money diverted from 1MDB, including real estate, art, a luxury yacht and proceeds from the film “The Wolf of Wall Street." Oh the irony.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/how-malaysia-s-1mdb-scandal-shook-the-financial-world-quicktake

https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2009/11/09/goldman-chief-says-he-is-just-doing-gods-work/