The tip of the iceberg

[Andy823]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36628044/ns/business-us_business/

By Daniel Wagner

updated 1 hour, 16 minutes ago
WASHINGTON - The fraud charges against Goldman Sachs & Co. that rocked financial markets Friday are no slam dunk, as hazy evidence and strategic pitfalls could easily trip up government lawyers.

Yet that hardly matters, experts say, because the allegations will kick off a new era of litigation that could entangle Goldman and other banks for years to come.

The charges against Goldman relate to a complex investment tied to the performance of pools of risky mortgages. In a complaint filed Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that Goldman marketed the package to investors without disclosing a major conflict of interest: The pools were picked by another client, a prominent hedge fund that was betting the housing bubble would burst.

It is also stated in the article that "German regulators are considering legal action against Goldman, newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported, quoting a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel."

Looks like things may get very interesting and there could be a lot more legal action to come!

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Perhaps a con on the par with Madoff...?

[Andy823]

4. Could be

Or it could be even bigger! As someone in another thread said, if the democrats are smart they will take this all the way and it will help come November. No matter who the people vote for, I think they are all pretty ticked off at things like this happening, and the momentum could really work for those democrats who are in congress, if they take the lead on this, and even those who are running against republicans. If the republicans fight the democrats in this and any kind of financial reform, it could work "very" well for democrats who use it against the republicans. The party of NO could really be in trouble on this issue, big trouble!

[napi21]

2. Maybe, but I believe this case is relatively easy to explain to

the ordinary non-financial juror. Derivitives & Swaps are not. I believe the feds will not bring a case to trial unless they are pretty damn sure they will win it. I was listening to Norman Goldman on the radio fri evening & he said the same thing. If they can put together cases on others that are able to be explained & understood by jurors, you bet there will be a lot more suits to come!

[Andy823]

5. I agree.

The feds aren't going to wast time on something they can't win, not with wall street! The american people are ticked off enough, if they took them to court and lost it wouldn't be good, but if they take them court, win, and then go after some of the other crooks, it can work well for president Obama, and will help get his financial reform through congress!

[Subdivisions]

3. What's to stop the entire company from disappearing...

just as what happened with Enron? After all, they have almost everyone else's money. If I were employed there, knowing it was only a matter of time before either the regulators, Justice, or thousandw of angry victims stampeding past the point Michael Moore was stopped by security, I'd have invested in an escape hatch and bugout bunker, and maybe even a new identity.

[Andy823]

6. Well...

Some of the bigger fish might just be thinking as you sated, and they may have a plan to get out with a lot of the money, but if that did happen, the people who are already upset with wall street would be so angry, that financial reform would be able to pass with a vast majority of American on the band wagon! This is going to be tough for the party of NO to fight, and since they have already promised wall street and the banks they will "fight" the reform it's going to be hard for them take the side of the citizens! This is going to be very interesting to see just how the right is going to handle this. Those like Beck have worked up the right by blaming it all on president Obama, now if the president and the democrats in congress take control of things, and more of the "crooks" are taken to court, how can the convince anyone but the already brain dead zombies that hand on their every word, that this is not the right thing to do?