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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

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 ›

Don't get us wrong, endless salad and breadsticks are great, but this tidbit from Post columnist Steve Cuozzo's feature on the recent rash of restaurant closings was pretty depressing: "Prudential Douglas Elliman's Faith Hope Consolo said landlords want chain "Fig & Olive types." "Every time I get a space that's fit for a restaurant, the landlord calls and says, 'I don't want a typical restaurant -- I want Pret a Manger," she said. "Or, 'Bring me another Olive Garden.'" Well, not only are you family at the OG, you can also apparently find classy chicks. more ›

Shocking: The Federal Crisis Inquiry Commission issued a subpoena to investment firm Goldman Sachs, with FCIC chairman Phil Angelides saying, "Goldman Sachs has not, in our view, been cooperative with our requests for information, or forthcoming with respect to documents, information or interviews." But who said that getting answers from a vampire squid was going to be easy? more ›

Yesterday, Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein addressed shareholders in a "relatively friendly" meeting, "We understand that there is a disconnect between how we as a firm view ourselves and how the broader public perceives our role and activities in the market. To address this, we need a rigorous self-examination." Shareholders re-elected him as chairman after Blankfein faced critics and recognized the company needed outreach with the public. He also claimed to "like shopping at Wal-Mart." Dealbreaker noticed a CNN segment where NYU MBA candidates said they “don’t want to work at a firm like Lehman Brothers” and “what you can respect about Goldman is that they’re greedy but they’re long-term greedy.” more ›

For more than 10 hours yesterday, six current or former Goldman Sachs executives defended their bank against withering criticism from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. At one point during the long day of witch hunting, Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) said, "I cannot help but get the feeling that the strategy of the witnesses is to try to burn through the time of each questioner." (She then went to the Senate floor and voted to block debate on a bill that would increase regulation of the financial system.) Despite all the bad air, Goldman still came out smelling like a rose on Wall Street. more ›

The Senate investigations subcommittee will hear from Goldman Sachs executives today, including CEO Lloyd Blankfein and executive director Fabrice "Fab" Tourrre. Tourre was singled out in the SEC's fraud charges against the firm, but the 31-year-old will "categorically" deny the SEC's claims, adding that the deal he drafted was "not designed to fail." (The SEC claims Tourre created a mortgage securities product that would allow hedge fund dealer John Paulson to make a killing by betting against them.) Tourre infamously emailed a friend in 2007, "Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab[rice Tourre] ... standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implication of those monstruosities [sic]" Watch the testimony here. more ›

After a record earnings year—and rumors of a $100 million bonus—Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein is receiving a $9 million bonus in deferred stock for 2009. Some on Wall Street think it's a "sign of restraint"—the Wall Street Journal characterizes it as Goldman "bowing" to criticism about executive pay. more ›

Having payed back billions of taxpayer bailout dollars it borrowed and raked in $1.8 billion in profits last year, Goldman Sachs, that "vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity," is getting ready to pay record bonuses to its top executives. Anonymous bankers in Davos for the World Economic Forum (WEF) told The Times of London that Lloyd Blankfein and other top Goldman bankers are about to get record-setting bonuses. "This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama," said an unidentified banker at one of Goldman’s rivals. more ›

Goldman Sachs has caught the public's eye in recent weeks thanks to record profits and damning exposes about the bank's historic role in the economy's boom and bust cycle. Oh, and the pedophilia. Like many rich and powerful institutions, Goldman doesn't appreciate the attention, coming as it does as tent cities and soaring unemployment are turning the nation into a Dickens novel by way of Mad Max. An employee tells the Post that CEO Lloyd Blankfein has been urging his employees to avoid any high-profile purchases: "This is a sensitive time for us, and [Blankfein] wants to make sure that we're not being seen living high on the hog." While it's probably wise to postpone buying that diamond-encrusted office bidet for now, isn't this kind of bad news for the city economy? What happened to trickle-down economics? How much longer does the service industry—the chauffeurs, the naked sushi models, the bidet installers—have to wait for conspicuous consumption to come back in style? more ›