CDO - Kriminalität durch GS - was passiert nun mit IKB ?
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- According to the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint, the victims of the alleged Goldman Sachs CDO fraud were ABN Amro, now held by the Royal Bank of Scotland /quotes/comstock/13*!rbs/quotes/nls/rbs (RBS 14.88, +0.59, +4.13%) , and IKB /quotes/comstock/11e!fikb (DE:IKB 0.70, 0.00, -0.57%) . RBS unwound the ABN position in the security at issue by paying Goldman $840.9 million, and IKB lost almost all of its $150 million.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON (MNI ) - The following is the text of a statement issued Friday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announcing it is charging Goldman Sachs with Fraud in structuring and marketing of collateralized debt obligation tied to subprime mortgages:
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Goldman, Sachs & Co. and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter.
The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation (CDO) that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). Goldman Sachs failed to disclose to investors vital information about the CDO, in particular the role that a major hedge fund played in the portfolio selection process and the fact that the hedge fund had taken a short position against the CDO.
"The product was new and complex but the deception and conflicts are old and simple," said Robert Khuzami, Director of the Division of Enforcement. "Goldman wrongly permitted a client that was betting against the mortgage market to heavily influence which mortgage securities to include in an investment portfolio, while telling other investors that the securities were selected by an independent, objective third party."
Kenneth Lench, Chief of the SEC's Structured and New Products Unit, added, "The SEC continues to investigate the practices of investment banks and others involved in the securitization of complex financial products tied to the U.S. housing market as it was beginning to show signs of distress."
The SEC alleges that one of the worlds largest hedge funds, Paulson & Co., paid Goldman Sachs to structure a transaction in which Paulson & Co. could take short positions against mortgage securities chosen by Paulson & Co. based on a belief that the securities would experience credit events.
According to the SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the marketing materials for the CDO known as ABACUS 2007-AC1 (ABACUS) all represented that the RMBS portfolio underlying the CDO was selected by ACA Management LLC (ACA), a third party with expertise in analyzing credit risk in RMBS. The SEC alleges that undisclosed in the marketing materials and unbeknownst to investors, the Paulson & Co. hedge fund, which was poised to benefit if the RMBS defaulted, played a significant role in selecting which RMBS should make up the portfolio.
The SEC's complaint alleges that after participating in the portfolio selection, Paulson & Co. effectively shorted the RMBS portfolio it helped select by entering into credit default swaps (CDS) with Goldman Sachs to buy protection on specific layers of the ABACUS capital structure. Given that financial short interest, Paulson & Co. had an economic incentive to select RMBS that it expected to experience credit events in the near future. Goldman Sachs did not disclose Paulson & Co.'s short position or its role in the collateral selection process in the term sheet, flip book, offering memorandum, or other marketing materials provided to investors.
The SEC alleges that Goldman Sachs Vice President Fabrice Tourre was principally responsible for ABACUS 2007-AC1. Tourre structured the transaction, prepared the marketing materials, and communicated directly with investors. Tourre allegedly knew of Paulson & Co.s undisclosed short interest and role in the collateral selection process. In addition, he misled ACA into believing that Paulson & Co. invested approximately $200 million in the equity of ABACUS, indicating that Paulson & Co.s interests in the collateral selection process were closely aligned with ACA's interests. In reality, however, their interests were sharply conflicting.
According to the SEC's complaint, the deal closed on April 26, 2007, and Paulson & Co. paid Goldman Sachs approximately $15 million for structuring and marketing ABACUS. By Oct. 24, 2007, 83 percent of the RMBS in the ABACUS portfolio had been downgraded and 17 percent were on negative watch. By Jan. 29, 2008, 99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded.
Investors in the liabilities of ABACUS are alleged to have lost more than $1 billion.
The SEC's complaint charges Goldman Sachs and Tourre with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5. The Commission seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of profits, prejudgment interest, and financial penalties.
** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **
Nochmal etwas verständlicher:
It’s been a busy week for the SEC. On Wednesday, the regulatory agency took a small, but important first step toward shining light on the very dark, very unregulated world of high frequency trading. And now come charges of civil fraud levied at Goldman Sachs. Talk about a double whammy. In the old days, the SEC would’ve put its feet up and called it a week after the high-frequency trading action. But following it up two days later by charging the biggest, baddest bank in the world with $1 billion of fraud? Who does the SEC think it is? The country’s financial watch dog? Let’s hope so.
We may be witnessing the first real signs of a newly empowered SEC under chair Mary Schapiro. She’s been in the job for over a year, and while critics have been on her for a slow start and giving Wall Street a pass, it must be noted that she’s had her work cut out for her. As Congress gears up to pass financial reform, Schapiro finally seems to have started to turn the SEC back toward its stated purpose of regulating, rather than enabling, Wall Street. This has required a complete about-face, and all the metaphors of turning around the Titanic apply here. Remember, this is an institution that over the last decade completely whiffed on some of the biggest cases of fraud in the country’s history: Madoff, Enron, and Worldcom, not to mention helping sow the seeds of the financial crisis through lax regulation. Under her three Bush-appointed predecessors, Harvey Pitt, William Donaldson, and Christopher Cox, (the guy McCain wanted fired in ’08) the SEC was basically the fox guarding the henhouse, ceding authority to the financial institutions it was supposed to be regulating.
Judging by the details of the charges -- which contain emails from Goldman employees, including the “Fabulous” Fabrice Toure, a 31 year-old Goldman VP allegedly most responsible for the fraud -- this took some serious sleuthing by SEC investigators. It also sheds light into the role Goldman played in helping hedge fund billionaire John Paulson make so much money off the crash.
Advertisement
According to the SEC, Paulson went to Goldman in early 2007 and said that he wanted to bet against (short) a portfolio of subprime mortgages. Goldman essentially said sure, no problem. First it created the CDO, dubbed ABACUS 2007-AC1, and then found some suckers (counterparties) to buy the thing, all the while (and here’s the basis for the SEC's charge) allegedly touting that Paulson had invested $200 million in it, when in actuality he’d bet the other way. Those suckers turned out to be German bank IKB and Dutch bank ABN AMRO, which is entirely owned by the Dutch government. The deal closed in April 2007, and within a year ABACUS had gone kablowey, costing IKB $140 million, and ABN AMRO $890 million. Goldman meanwhile made $15 million in fees from Paulson for structuring and marketing ABACUS, and Paulson made a cool $1billion off the credit default swaps he bought on ABACUS. Paulson responded by saying he is not the subject of the SEC's complaint, made no misrepresentations and is not the subject of any charges. For its part, Goldman calls the charges “completely unfounded” and has vowed to fight them. It’ll be interesting to see how the SEC stands up to a full-on defense from Goldman on this.
The charges certainly took the market by surprise. But more importantly this may be the first shot fired in the SEC’s war against the kind of financial practices that helped bring on the crisis. Judging by the words of an SEC official, who tells NEWSWEEK that agency is investigating the CDO structuring and marketing practices of “a number of Wall Street firms.” It would appear so.
Quelle: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/wealthofnations/archive/2010/04/16/goldman-sachs-has-the-sec-finally-grown-a-pair-under-mary-schapiro.aspx?obref=obnetwork
21.04.2010
Schrottpapiere - Skandal bei Goldman? Schaut auf die Deutsche Bank!
Deutsche Politiker fallen über das US-Geldhaus Goldman Sachs her - weil es die Mittelstandsbank IKB geprellt haben soll. Dabei ist das Ganze Heuchelei: Auch die Deutsche Bank drehte der IKB verhängnisvolle Schrottpapiere an, ohne dass Berlin dagegen vorgegangen wäre.
weiter lesen:
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/unternehmen/0,1518,690324,00.html
[Hinweis der Redaktion: Der Spiegel erlaubt keine Wiedergabe von Texten, daher musste obiger Beitrag auf einen Absatz gekürzt werden.]
@ Doringo [#3]
http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/32/32487/1.html
und Untreue bei Volksvertetern ?
http://www.rp-online.de/wirtschaft/news/Staedte-verzichten-auf-Millionen_aid_845753.html
Buffett sieht die Sache von GS wohl etwas anders als manche europäischen Kleingeister
siehe WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704608104575218071029226354.html?mod=WSJEUROPE_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews