I thought you had to be savvy to be an accredited investor. http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/7/hedge-fund-swindler-sam-israel-s-latest-victim-goldman-sach-gs-
"As the prime broker for Bayou, Goldman had a view of all Israel's trades. And despite numerous inconsistencies in Israel's reporting, the bank never intervened" That shows how GS is the biggest fraud out there. I can't wait for the day they go under like the rest of their buddies. It will happen, nothing lasts forever.
when this initially blew up a couple years ago I read Israel never worked as anything more than an assistant to a broker on Wall Streeet. He was from a "good family" in New Orleans" and this was how he raised money.
GS's responsibility is to make sure Sam didn't lie in his statement to GS. He didn't, so where is the trouble for GS? "From August 1999 to August 2005, Bayou had losses of more than $88 million â a figure disclosed as a line item under âyear-to-date profit or lossâ on the Goldman statement." The fact that Sam lied to his investors has nothing to do with GS. It's a matter between a hedge fund and its clients. I hope these morons will sue Microsoft, because MS made hedge fund trading possible by putting windows system in its computers. Oh, don't forget to sue the air conditioner manufacturer who made it possible for Sam to sit in his office losing money without sweating too much. The manufacturer's name is Red Sun Rising Over the Long Brick Wall, located at Xio Zhue City in Central China, contact number is 1-800-bankrupt.
In our lawsuit-happy society, this is not surprising. Those investors who are accredited are supposed to be savvy enough to invest for themselves. Anger at being duped is no reason to sue a third party (like the poster above stated).
"But Goldman knew that Bayou was reporting significant gains to investors" -BS!- Goldman could not and should not get into this reports. Goldman job is to transfer orders to the exchanges, verify margins, and perhaps provide some advice (without any liability, if losses are incurred), and just that. How Israel customers are handled is not a GS job, as simple as that. Prime brokerages can't know (and don't care) who the customers of a hedge fund are, so how would GS know about the profit reports?