Investment firm Goldman Sachs is once again in the spotlight after the Securities and Exchange Commission has filed suit against Fabrice Tourre, the giant’s vice president, and the firm itself for apparently defrauding investors. The firm forged a $15 million dollar deal with Paulson & Co, a hedge fund which cherry picked securities backed by subprime loans which were due to plummet with the impending mortgage crisis and marketed them to clients. In the mean time, the hedge fund invested in credit default swaps, which would have allowed the firm to collect when the subprime borrowers defaulted on their loans. The hedge fund manager behind this entire scheme is estimated to have earned $1 billion after the subprime crisis went into full swing. The extent of deception and corruption in this story is truly remarkable, and we can only hope that the responsible persons will be held liable to the full extent of the law. This scheme that was spearheaded by Sachs is believed to have expedited the downward spiral of the economy.

Goldman Sachs, once considered a “too big to fail” institution was bailed out by taxpayers in 2008 at a total cost of over $12 billion. The firm received some backlash after issuing $14 billion worth of bonuses to executives a short time thereafter. It has since repaid the bailout money back to taxpayers.