Are people willing to shell out hard-earned money to find out how evil Goldman Sachs is? Publishing house Hachette thinks so, betting $1.5 million on a book from infamous ex-GS employee and NY Times op-ed writer Greg Smith. more ›

Self-excommunicating Goldman Sachs survivor Greg Smith's book may be worth as much as $1 million, a "top editor" in the publishing industry tells the Post. Smith is apparently being represented by N.S. Bienstock, a firm whose speciality is repping "reality TV shows and news personalities." Can we finally get a @GSElevator sitcom? And can that guy from Princess Bride play Lloyd Blankfein? more ›

Not satisfied with the $150 paid to him by the New York Times for his scathing editorial/resignation letter, former Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith is reportedly shopping a memoir to "prominent" publishing houses in New York. According to the Times' sources, Smith pitched his book "as a coming-of-age story, the tale of someone who came into the business with good intentions and sky-high ideals that were ultimately pierced by Goldman’s obsessive focus on making money." We're looking forward to the accompanying children's book, "Go The F*ck To The Trading Floor & Make Us Some F*cking Money." more ›

Much has been made of the $2 billion Goldman Sachs lost in market value on Wednesday, the same day that the NY Times published an op-ed by a disgruntled employee who criticized the firm's new focus on money over clients. Now, Bloomberg News reports that the Times paid him $150 for his unsolicited views. more ›

Do you know who, besides Lloyd Blankfein, really wants the pile-on of Goldman Sachs to stop? Mayor Bloomberg! During his radio show this morning, he commented on the very NY Times op-ed written by a disgruntled ex-employee who said the firm put profits before clients: "I don't know whoever said what... But even if it was said, it's a few people and, you know, Goldman Sachs is a firm that's been around for well over a hundred years and it's a great firm... It's my job to stand up and support companies that are here in the city that bring us a tax base that employ our people and I'm going to do that." more ›

Now that Greg Smith, ping-pong enthusiast and now former Goldman Sachs employee, has secured his place in the annals of legendary resignations (like this one), the fallout from his NY Times op-ed f*ck-you to Goldman is being analyzed. Goldman's market value fell by $2 billion yesterday, and now the firm is trying to figure out why Smith was so upset. more ›

Greg Smith's very public resignation from Goldman Sachs—by way of a NY Times op-ed slamming the money first, customers last culture at the firm—got the late night comedy treatment. Stephen Colbert led off The Colbert Report with it, noted Smith's ping-pong prowess as well as, "Once he found out Goldman had a culture of greed, he left immediately after 12 years at the firm." more ›

The first rule of being a Vampire Squid is that you do not jam your blood funnel into the Queen. Yet that is exactly what former head of Goldman Sach's U.S. equity derivatives business in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa did today in a scathing resignation letter in the New York Times. "I believe I have worked here long enough to understand the trajectory of its culture, its people and its identity," Greg Smith begins. "And I can honestly say that the environment now is as toxic and destructive as I have ever seen it." more ›

As the Post and other Occupy Wall Street detractors know, it's easy to dismiss protesters when they're young, vocal, and occasionally law-breaking. But trying to get charges of impudence and ignorance to stick to nuns is a little tougher. The Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia have been taking their message of corporate responsibility to board rooms years before anyone pitched a tent in Zuccotti Park, and even if the businessmen they talk to don't heed their advice, they're at least obliged to listen. "You're not going to get any sympathy for cutting off a nun at your annual meeting," a leader of a shareholder firm tells the Times. more ›

On December 14, 2007, a crane's nylon sling, carrying seven tons of steel beams, broke and fell 25 stories onto a construction trailer at the site of the new Goldman Sachs headquarters. Inside the trailer was Robert Woo, a Canadian architect, and he was nearly killed by the crash and doctors said he might not walk again. But recently Woo has been walking, thanks to the Ekso bionic exoskeleton: CityRoom visited Woo at Mount Sinai Medical Center and took video. more ›

With his brokerage firm's troubles plastered on the front pages of the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, former NJ Governor Jon Corzine resigned from MF Global today. The company issued a statement saying that Corzine, who once headed Goldman Sachs, would not seek his $12 million severance. Which makes sense, since the firm filed for bankruptcy earlier this week and couldn't find about $700 million in funds. But was Corzine's decision hasty? Because now there are reports that the money has been found! more ›

Over a dozen Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested today outside Goldman Sachs, where they had marched with 300 others after holding a mock trial of CEO Lloyd Blankfein. Among those arrested were performance artist gadfly Reverend Billy and author and columnist Chris Hedges, who is a senior fellow at The Nation Institute. Hedges and the Rev joined several others in a direct action protest outside the firm, sitting down on the sidewalk, linking arms, and refusing to leave. It seems clear the activists intended to be arrested; earlier today Reverend Billy tweeted, "I'll spend the afternoon in a police van with Chris Hedges and come out ten times more READY for the miracle! Revolujah!" more ›

Hey, remember how our economy got/still is totally screwed by mortgage-backed securities? Now it looks like the U.S. government is getting ready to sue the banks that issued them! The NY Times reports, "The federal agency that oversees the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is set to file suits against more than a dozen big banks, accusing them of misrepresenting the quality of mortgage securities they assembled and sold at the height of the housing bubble, and seeking billions of dollars in compensation." more ›

Christmas yachts this year may lack a 4th wet bar at Goldman Sachs, as shares of the firm fell 5 percent, erasing $2.7 billion off of the company's value. They've since recovered slightly, but investors are skittish because Lloyd Blankfein has hired criminal defense attorney Reid Weingarten due to the ongoing DOJ investigation of Goldman related to toxic mortgage-backed securities, the Times reports. Gee, why does everybody seem to think there's wrongdoing related to the propagation and sale of these securities? more ›

Bank of America really just wants to move past the whole toxic mortgage misunderstanding, and is hoping that by shelling out $20 billion to clean up the mess, their investors and the public will let bygones be bygones. $8.5 billion of that money is for a settlement specifically tied to large investment firms, including BlackRock, MetLife, and Goldman Sachs, who invested in BOA's worthless mortgages (thanks, Countrywide!) and the terms are extremely favorable to the bank: they're paying 5 cents on the dollar and the investors waive their right to sue. Every thing was going according to plan until that meddling New York Attorney General had to get involved. more ›

Fervently clutch your tear-soaked Irish cotton hanky and strike up the band of microscopic violins: Wall Street may have to let a few people go. Fears of what regulation might do to the market coupled with the reverberations of the financial crisis of 2008 are forcing firms to trim the fat. "It's a tense environment right now," an analyst told DealBook, describing the climate that has existed in the rest of the country for many years now. Most notably, Goldman Sachs is cutting "10 percent, or $1 billion, of noncompensation expenses over the next 12 months," which would be the first time the company had wide-scale layoffs since 2009. Bank of America, Credit Suisse, and Morgan Stanley are also tightening their belts. Where will these people find work? Wall Street, probably. Unless Wal-Mart can get their signing bonuses for greeters up to par. more ›

There are lots of things you can hate about the "vampire squid sucking the face of humanity" that is Goldman Sachs (their desserts being one innocuous example) but having a private grill at the new Shack Shake in Battery Park City is, unfortunately, not one of them. more ›

After the disappointing setback to the Manhattan DA's office that was last month's alleged rape cop verdict, Cy Vance has set his sights on a much bigger target: the "vampire squid sucking the face of humanity" that is Goldman Sachs. The District Attorney's office today subpoenaed the firm in relation to a recent report from Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. And while some analysts don't think the subpoena will lead anywhere, a source tells the Daily News the office is "very serious" about the case and is "throwing resources at it." more ›

You may remember the "Fabulous" Fabrice Tourre, the mid-level Goldman Sachs trader who the SEC cherry-picked last year to make an example of. Goldman scrounged around in their manatee-leather couches and found $500 million to settle charges of fraud and gee they were really sorry. An article in today's Times seems to confirm what most people knew all along: Tourre was a scapegoat and his superiors should have been targeted for investigation, but weren't. more ›

We knew there was a reason that the sun is shining today. After some speculation that he would step down after a somewhat tumultuous turn at the helm of Goldman Sachs, CEO Lloyd Blankfein has indicated that he will remain vampire squid-in-chief for at least a couple of years. Who would give up a cafeteria like this? The Post breaks down Blankfein's "report card" as being a "mixed bag," noting that while the firm has crushed competitors like JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, Blankfein has presided over a tumble in profits and a "p.r. trainwreck" following the $550 million settlement with the SEC over fraud related to subprime mortgages. more ›

In a victory for President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, The Wall Street Journal reports that an insider trading scam that grossed $32 million and spanned 17 years was broken up by the FBI yesterday. Sure, $32 million represents 18% of Bernie Madoff's diamond-encrusted bidet budget. But it should be noted that the two men involved did an excellent job of staying under the radar, "with tradecraft of which Gordon Gecko would have been proud" gushed one FBI agent who just started subscribing to Netflix Instant. more ›

Vampire squid Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein testified today in the Galleon insider trading trial of Raj Rajaratnam. Rajaratnam, a hedge fund founder who is out on $100 million bail, is accused of a huge insider trading ring. The trial is pretty complicated, what with hours of secretly recorded conversation and financial details, and the jury is made up of mostly blue collar New Yorkers—and one alternate juror dubbed the "Hipster Juror" who has already fallen asleep—who don't know who the hell Lloyd Blankfein is. more ›

Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs invested $450 million in Facebook, helping give the social media company a $50 billion valuation. Clients reportedly went "gaga" over having an inside track to sign some money into the growing business, but now it turns out that the investment firm isn't offering its American clients any of the $1.5 billion private offering. Why? The pesky government! The Wall Street Journal reports, "Goldman said the move came after officials at the New York securities firm 'concluded the level of media attention might not be consistent with the proper completion of a U.S. private placement under U.S. law.'" more ›

While Ithaca is hours away from the Big Apple, the taint of Wall Street hits too close to campus. At least, that's according to Cornell student Tony Manfried, who composed an opinion piece in the school paper demanding that Goldman Sachs never recruit there again in Vampire Squid-lite fashion:

It vets and interrogates, tests and examines, and eventually it leaves campus with a wish list of eager undergrads. A few months later, those same undergrads are paying for a few rounds of drinks at a celebratory Long Island iced tea night. And come summer, these undergrads have transformed into full-fledged Goldmanites — squeezing every drip of profit out of the rag that is America with conscious abandon — under the tragically correct assumption that the rest of us are, above all else, jealous of them. more ›

Goldman Sachs, the "vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity," gave its largest donation ever to the Harlem Children’s Zone yesterday. Goldman Sachs Gives, a fund supported by the investment company and its partners, gave $20 million to the charter school operators, toward the creation of a new school and community center at Harlem’s St. Nicholas Houses. Their massive donation (some perspective: $20 million is approximately what Goldman earns in 1/2 a day) comes on the heels of a major gender bias lawsuit, which the more cynical among us may say is convenient timing for such an announcement. more ›

Three former female employees are suing Goldman Sachs, saying they faced fewer opportunities and were discriminated against at the banking giant. “The violations of its female employees' rights are systemic, are based upon companywide policies and practices, and are the result of unchecked gender bias that pervades Goldman Sachs's corporate culture,” the women said Wednesday in their complaint. more ›

Get out your tiny violins! The NY Times has a feature on how the coveted Goldman Sachs partnership can also be taken away from executives." And, people, it's serious: A former senior managing director at Bear Stearns and visiting professor at Adelphi, Michael Driscoll, tells the Times, "Being partner at Goldman is the pinnacle of Wall Street; if you make it, you are considered set for life. To have it taken away would just be devastating to an individual. There is just no other word for it." more ›