Goldman Sachs Execs Will Be Ousted Over Their 'Ineptitude'

[Cees Binkhorst]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Het "had no desire to hear anything Goldman had to say" hieronder is
eufemistisch. Ze kregen niet eens de gelegenheid hun zinnen af te maken,
laat staan behoorlijk te antwoorden.

Groet / Cees

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/03/richard-bove-goldman-sach_n_561722.html
BOSTON (AP) -- Senior executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. are likely
to be ousted because of their "ineptitude" in responding to government
allegations that the investment bank misled investors, a Rochdale
Research analyst said on Monday.

Analyst Richard Bove, however, maintained a buy rating and a $200 price
target on Goldman's stock, saying he still is refusing to sell the
recently battered stock. He wrote in a research note that Goldman "is
likely to be supported even more strongly by its clients" following the
bad publicity the company has suffered over the April 16 Securities and
Exchange Commission complaint and subsequent congressional hearings.

But Bove said the company has hurt itself by saying "as close to nothing
as possible" in response to the allegations.

"Goldman is going to have to pay a high price for its ineptitude in
handling this issue," Bove said. "Its shareholders already have."

The stock closed Monday up $4.30, or 3 percent, at $149.50. But shares
are down 20 percent from their high on the day the SEC complaint was
announced April 16.

"Goldman has simply been outclassed at every step, and there is no sign
that the company knows how to deal with the current situation," Bove wrote.

Without citing names of individuals such as CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Bove
said it's likely that high-level executives "are going to have to be
removed from their positions both in the management suite and from the
board of directors."

He also said Goldman's legal team "will have to be replaced with one
having greater skills and Washington know-how."

Bove predicts a fine "of at least $1 billion will be required," and "a
new mission statement will be developed and produced."

Bove said Goldman "must start to redefine the financial crisis
discussion; it must get proactive in its defense."

"It appears," Bove said, "that President Obama needs a symbol of
financial evil that must be expunged from the system. That symbol is
Goldman Sachs."

Bove also said senators who assailed Goldman during hearings "had no
desire to hear anything Goldman had to say," while Goldman "had no
desire to say anything, either."

The government's civil fraud case alleges that Goldman misled investors
by failing to tell them that subprime mortgage securities had been
chosen with help from a Goldman hedge fund client, Paulson & Co., that
was betting the investments would fail. Goldman and one of its traders,
Fabrice Tourre, have denied wrongdoing and said they will contest the
allegations in court.

Goldman's stock took a hit after the complaint was announced, then took
another dive on Friday, after word that the Justice Department had
opened a criminal investigation of the Wall Street powerhouse over its
role in the mortgage securities deals it arranged.

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