The U.S. Justice Department and regulators will have to determine whether employees and executives of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) violated any laws when they traded securities tied to the housing market and testified to Congress about the transactions, Senator Carl Levin said.
The Michigan Democrat, who released the findings of a two- year inquiry into the 2008 financial crisis yesterday, said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smart with Carol Massar and Matt Miller” that he wanted to send the report to federal prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Lawmakers don’t have the authority to declare whether the activities were illegal, he said.
“That is not for Congress to determine whether or not a crime was committed or whether or not he violated the security laws,” Levin said, referring to Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein. “That is for the Justice Department and that is for the SEC to make those determinations.” … (more)
