DRY scans Goldman, reports of Libya of other firms: report (Reuters)

(Reuters) - the Securities and Exchange Commission examines whether Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and certain other financial firms violated the laws of the corruption in relations with the Libya sovereign-wealth funds, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the case.

Lawyers from application to SEC review of the documents in detail the relations firms with the Libyan Investment Authority, controlled by the Chief of the nation, Muammar Qaddafi, the paper said.

Regulators are interested in a tax of $ 50 million that Goldman initially agreed to pay the Fund, but the payment was never that discussions have been interrupted before violence erupted in Libya earlier this year, said the paper.

The absence of a transaction does not the Bank of the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits companies relieve us from offering or paying bribes to foreign officials or employees of State enterprises, the paper said.

The newspaper added that Carlyle Group, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, JPMorgan Chase, and several other companies had significant relations with the Libyan Investment Authority.

"We are convinced that nothing was done or proposed has been or could have been a breach of a rule or regulation," City spokesman Lucas van Praag Goldman review saying. "We have retained counsel to the outside, as is our normal practice for any transaction, to ensure that we have been consistent with all applicable rules.

A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment on the document.

Reuters was unable to join Goldman, Och-Ziff, JPMorgan, Carlyle or the SEC outside the normal U.S. business hours.

The newspaper said last week that Goldman has invested more than 1.3 billion of the Libya sovereign-wealth funds in the currency of Paris and other trades in 2008 and investment lost more than 98% of its value.

(Reported by Vaishnavi Bala in Bangalore.) (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

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U.S. probing Goldman, others for legal loss estimate (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other banks revealed estimates of potential losses for legal issues under the pressure of the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to documents released Friday.

In a letter to Goldman on February 22, Stephanie Hunsaker, Chief Accountant assistant principal in the division of the SEC of corporate finance, interviewed a statement by the leadership of Goldman that the Bank was unable to come up with solid loss estimates.

Other major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley received similar requests.

Hunsaker, said the statement by Chief Financial Officer David Viniar "seems unusual" and requested that revise Goldman his financial state of loss to provide estimates and additional information on legal issues or explain why he could not.

The SEC has been pushing banks to provide more disclosures on their legal responsibilities, which has become a concern of major investors.

Last year, Goldman spent $ 700 million on lawyers hired to defend the Bank in various actions and also increased from $ 550 million to settle with the sec's civil fraud charges.

In addition to civil lawsuits filed by private parties, Goldman is also confronted with the SEC Probes, commodity future Trading Commission, the Ministry of Justice, the Attorney General of New York and the Office of the Attorney of District of Manhattan.

Goldman responded to the request of the SEC that it disclose more information in believing his "reasonably possible losses" to the legal issues at approximately $ 3.4 billion in its annual report for 2010 was filed on March 1. This figure was adjusted to $ 2.7 billion in relation to the first quarter of Goldman.

The SEC also asked Goldman for more information about depreciation of intangible assets for its rights of designated market maker, the rate of growth for equities, its decision to separate business components of the loan principal and investment activities and its residential fresh potential for the redemption of mortgage securities.

(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra, additional reporting by Dan Wilchins;) (Editing by Tim Dobbyn, Gary Hill)

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The justice department, SEC probe the findings of the Senate on Goldman (Reuters)

(Reuters) - report of the Senate, who had accused Goldman Sachs (GS).(N) to mislead customers and handling markets, was formally referred to the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which are reviewed his findings, Bloomberg said.

The report of the Senate, which was published in April, had accused Goldman to profit at the expense of customers as the mortgage market crashed in 2007.

The SEC John Nester spokesman refused to comment on the report from Bloomberg, Reuters.

(Reported by Sakthi Prasad Bangalore.) (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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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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