BLOOMBERG: Greece’s secret loan from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) was a costly mistake from the start…
“Like the municipalities, Greece is just another example of a poorly governed client that got taken apart,” Satyajit Das, a risk consultant and author of “Extreme Money: Masters of the Universe and the Cult of Risk,” said in a phone interview.“These trades are structured not to be unwound, and Goldman is ruthless about ensuring that its interests aren’t compromised –it’s part of the DNA of that organization.”
A gain of 600 million euros represents about 12 percent of the $6.35 billion in revenue Goldman Sachs reported for trading and principal investments in 2001, a business segment that includes the bank’s fixed-income, currencies and commodities division, which arranged the trade and posted record sales that year. The unit, then run by Lloyd C. Blankfein, 57, now the New York-based bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, also went on to post record quarterly revenue the following year. … (more)
EDITOR: This is high finance and above our heads. However, the gist seems to be that the Greek tax payers got ‘rolled’ for over half a billion dollars. Another triumph for Wall Street.
