New York (HedgeCo.net) – Antitrust lawfirm, Wolf Popper LLP., filed a class action lawsuit against Goldman Sachs Group and certain of its senior officers on behalf of investors who purchased Goldman securities between August 5, 2009 and April 16, 2010.
In 2008, the SEC began investigating Goldman for its role in a synthetic mortgage-based securities transaction, called “Abacus.” In Abacus, Goldman partnered with a hedge fund that wanted to short mortgage-related securities. Goldman structured a transaction where the hedge fund participated in selecting the mortgage products that Abacus’s performance was based on, knowing the hedge fund would be “short” Abacus and was motivated to include the mortgage products it believed would perform most poorly. Goldman then sold Abacus without disclosing the hedge fund’s role to investors.
The following year, the SEC issued a Wells Notice indicating its intention to recommend that formal charges be filed against Goldman in connection with the Abacus transaction. This information was not disclosed to shareholders, who were consistently told instead that Goldman was committed to serving the interests of its clients and the importance of Goldman’s reputation as a client-focused firm.
On April 16, 2010, the market learned about Goldman’s misconduct in the Abacus transaction when the SEC filed a civil fraud suit. Upon learning of this news, Goldman stock immediately plummeted nearly 13%, declining from its April 15, 2010 closing price of $184.27 per share, to close at $160.70 per share on April 16, 2010. Goldman common stock fell an additional $15.04 on April 30, 2010 in response to investor concerns about the potential criminality of Goldman’s misconduct.
Editing by Alex Akesson
For HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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