The Libyan Investment Fund’s lawsuit against Goldman continues, hoping to extract $1.2 billion from the large, insidious, pernicious, investment bank. Amongst a sundry of claims against America’s best and brightest, they claim Goldman paid for hookers to woo the Libyan barbarians into giving them money to manage. Also, and this is one of my favorite lines, they said Goldman “delivered a pitch on structured leveraged loans to someone who lives in the middle of the desert with his camels”.
Goldman lavished the camel drivers with private jets, champagne and five star hotels (the fucking horror of it all!).
The crux of the complaint is that Goldman lost a bunch of money during THE FUCKING FINANCIAL CRISIS. Their attorneys are seeking losses for nine trades that were made, one of a very outsized nature, during the hard months of 2008.
As the world burned and the LIA got crushed under a maelstrom of Goldman styled chicanery, the pimps at Goldman raked in $200 million in fees. Although disheartening and somewhat excessive, none of these charges were illegal and are part of the cost of doing business with investment managers.
One last crime that Goldman committed was hiring the brother of the LIA’s former Deputy Chief. It seems nepotism is a global phenomenon. However, it’s inherently evil when trades go wrong and someone is suing to get their money back and to be made whole.
Sorry LIA, no do overs.
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If they can pry some money out of Goldman, good on them.
Goldman Sachs should buy an army, take over Libya, and build a huge resort on the ocean for bankers only.
The Libyan Investment Fund people should have paid attention to the old saying “Beware of investment advisers wearing sharkskin vests.”
Even when bribery is par for business in a foreign compnay, it is still illegal for US companies under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
While Goldman can pretty much handle a Libyan lawsuit with limited damage, the DoJ is another story. Siemens was fined $450M under this act. If the DoJ finds evidence of wrong doing, that could bolster the LIF’s civil case.