Goldman Sachs Caught Up in Libyan Funds Scandal [View all]

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/231666/goldman-sachs-caught-up-in-libyan-funds-scandal/

Goldman Sachs Caught Up in Libyan Funds Scandal
Le Monde, France
By Marc Roche
Translated By Michael Krimian
29 January 2014
Edited by Bora Mici

Goldman Sachs is once again caught up in its past. After having paid heavy fines in successive scandals, the American merchant bank hoped to be able to do its job in peace, without any publicity.

~snip~

The case started back in 2008, when the West had welcomed Col. Gadhafi with open arms. Banks then rushed to sell highly sophisticated financial products to the sovereign fund, guardians of the Great Socialist People’s Libyan Jamahiriya petrodollars.

Michael Sherwood, the trading manager of the London Goldman Sachs branch, had negotiated directly with Saïf al-Islam, the younger son of the Libyan Guide and strongman of the LIA, fascinated by the notoriety of the operators of the firm.

However, the transactions concocted by the top trading bankers revealed catastrophic. Because Goldman Sachs had unsoundly bet on diverse currencies, the LIA lost 98 percent of its original value — more than $1 billion — in May 2011.