Senator questioned the testimony of the executions of Goldman (AP)

WASHINGTON - the head of a Senate Committee investigating the financial crisis is challenging the accuracy of the testimony Goldman Sachs executives to give Congress last year on the question of whether the cabinet directed investors mortgage securities he knew probably would fail.

Goldman Sachs and Co. has agreed in July to pay $ 550 million to settle civil fraud on similar charges.

Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., said Wednesday that the Subcommittee has found fresh evidence that shows Goldman mislead investors went beyond this case. It raised doubts on the testimony of the year last by half a dozen senior Goldman. CEO of Goldman, Lloyd Blankfein was among those who testified.

Spokesman for Goldman Michael DuVally, said the testimony of managers was "true and accurate" and that the Subcommittee's report confirms that.

The report released Wednesday notes that marketed Goldman four series of complex mortgage-backed securities from banks and other investors. But he said that the company did not tell them that the titles were very risky, secretly betting against the positions of the investors and misled investors about its own positions pass its balance sheet risk to them.

At the hearing last year by the Senate Committee, Goldman executives were questioned on trade agreements. Company e-mails show Goldman employees laugh at titles such as "junk" and "shit."

Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein, said the company did not bet against clients and could not survive without their confidence. The company has lost the collapse of the mortgage of $ 1.2 billion in 2007 and 2008, which triggered the financial crisis and the worst recession since the 1930s, said Blankfein. He also insisted that Goldman did not make a negative aggressive bet - or short - on slide of the mortgage market.

Short positions of the company were mostly offset by long holdings of securities, executives said at the hearing.

The new Subcommittee report cites internal documents from Goldman said that contradict this assertion.

"I think that they misled the Congress," Levin told journalists. Goldman "acquired at the expense of their clients and they have used abusive practices to do so," he said.

DuVally, Goldman spokesman, said that even if the company is in disagreement with many of the conclusions of the report, "we take seriously the issues explored by the Subcommittee." We recently published the results of a comprehensive review of our practices and standards of the company and is committed to making significant changes. ?

Goldman agreed last summer to pay 550 million to settle civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission charges mislead purchasers of mortgage debt. The agreement applied to one of the four transactions cited by the Subcommittee of the Senate.

The report concludes with an investigation of two years by the Committee, which reviewed millions of documents and interviewed scores of executives, dealers and vendors.

It depicts "a financial snake pit laden with greed, conflicts of interest and wrongdoing", said Levin.

The Group of experts cited four key areas of the causes of the financial crisis:

_Risky mortgage credit as exemplified by Washington Mutual, which became the largest American Bank never failed in September 2008.

_The failure of regulators to repress on loans to abuse and conduct risk in banks in the years prior to the bust of housing and the financial crisis.

_The AAA ratings assigned by the big credit rating agencies to high risk subprime who later bad and has contributed to cause the housing bust.

_The role of Goldman Sachs investment banks and finance offerings they put together, which flooded the markets with risky securities.

The report also urges regulators federal to make several changes, as a strong prohibition on conflicts of interest for investment banks and other financial actors. He said the Act, financial review adopted last year in response to the crisis could help to prevent future abuses.

The "at the heart of the financial crisis were outstanding and often not disclosed, conflicts of interest," Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, the Republican top panel of the page. "Blame for this mess is everywhere in the world of federal regulators who close their eyes, Wall Street banks that allow greed to run wild, and members of Congress who failed to provide the supervision."

Levin, said that the Panel planned transmit the findings to the Ministry of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission for further investigation as possible.

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