Financial giant Goldman Sachs has been under scrutiny by the CFTC, and has disclosed in its quarterly report that the agency may be filing charges soon. The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that CFTC has told Goldman it “intends to recommend…aiding and abetting, civil fraud and supervision-related charges” be brought against the firm’s trade-clearing division.
The allegations stem from a series of trades handled by the firm where it allegedly should have known that a brokerage operation was using customer accounts rather than its own accounts in its business with Goldman. The CFTC declined to comment, so details are few and far between. Goldman says it is cooperating with regulators and had nothing further to add.
This is not the first time Goldman has run afoul of regulators. Last year the firm was ordered to pay millions for failing to heed signs of fraud at a hedge fund for which it cleared trades. With the renewed focus on oversight and enforcement at the CFTC in the wake of the financial crisis, it may be a tough few years for institutions accustomed to last decade’s freewheeling business atmosphere.
