Image by AFP via @daylife  Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs, and others at the investment bank have hired a white-collar criminal defense lawyer whose past clients include an Enron accounting officer and former WorldCom CEO, Bernard Ebber.  Blankfein hired Reid H. Weingarten, a partner with Steptoe & Johnson in Washington D.C. amid accusations that his firm acted fraudulently leading up to and during the 2008 financial crisis. While no individuals at Goldman have been charged for wrong-doing the powerful investment bank has been at the center of an investigation led by Senator Carl Levin of Michigan.  Goldman Sachs confirmed the news that Weingarten has been retained by Blankfein and others saying, “As is common in such situations, Mr Blankfein and other individuals who were expected to be interviewed in connection with the Justice Department’s inquiry into certain matters raised in the PSI report hired counsel at the outset.”  Back in April Senator Levin blasted Wall Street in a 635-page report stemming from a 2-year bipartisan investigation on the key causes of the crisis. The report took specific issue with the way Goldman touted investments to clients on one end but bet against them on the other. A similar accusation against Goldman by the SEC led to a $550 million settlement last year, but Levin and his team don’t think that punishment fits the crime and has since referred the report to the Department of Justice seeking criminal charges against the bank.  The kicker for Blankfein and his associates is that Levin says executives from the bank (including Blankfein) lied before Congress in their testimony in April 2010.  Bill Singer, a veteran Wall Street attorney and Forbes contributor says Blankfein is “lawyering up in anticipation of trouble.”  Chicago attorney, Andrew Stoltmann who has represented over 700 individuals in lawsuits and arbitration actions against brokerage firms puts it this way, “Goldman can put any window dressing on this it likes but this it is a very bad situation. Senator Levin really laid out a compelling case for obstruction of justice and misleading Congress.” He adds, “I have no been aware of another instance where the employed CEO of a major brokerage firm has hired criminal legal counsel.”  Weingarten represented the man Time magazine named one of the most crooked CEOs of all time. The man they were referring to was CEO of WorldCom (now MCI) Bernard Ebbers who was convicted of fraud and conspiracy for his role in a massive accounting scandal that led to what was at the time the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.  According to his bio, Weingarten has represented clients in high-profile investigations including Whitewater, Drexel, and Columbia HCA. In the past he’s represented U.S. Treasury Department Chief of Staff, Joshua Steiner; General Counsel of Tyco, Mark Belnick; and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, A. Michael Espy.  Weingarte, according to the website, “represents clients in complex criminal matters in both state and federal courts at the pre-trial, trial, and post-trial stages, including cases involving public corruption, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, bank fraud, bribery, government procurement fraud, antitrust, healthcare fraud, and tax and securities fraud.”
Lloyd Blankfein hired a criminal defense attorney who represented the former WorldCom CEO now incarcerated for securities fraud.