Goldman Sachs manipulated financial markets, profited from the housing crisis, and misled its clients and Congress, according to a 635-page report released Wednesday by a Senate subcommittee. Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, says some of the findings of the panel's two-year investigation will be referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal or civil action. He calls the investment bank a "financial snake pit rife with greed, conflicts of interest, and wrongdoing." Naturally, Goldman disagrees with many of the report's conclusions and insists its executives did not lie. But could Goldman executives really be prosecuted?
No, there isn't enough new here: "This isn't the first time we are seeing Wall Street's many warts up close," says Colin Barr in Fortune. Levin may see this as "one last chance for U.S. prosecutors to finally reel in the big fish that has eluded them." But as "nauseating" as the findings in the report may be, it's hard to spot specifics that "would rise to the level of a prosecutable offense." The "ambition" of the report is commendable, but don't hold your breath for the indictments to come down.
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