Goldman Investigations End for Justice Department and SEC

Following efforts led by Sen. Carl Levin (D-Michigan) to have Goldman Sachs investigated, the ""Securities and Exchange Commission"":http://www.sec.gov/ (SEC) and the ""Justice Department"":http://www.justice.gov/ have decided not to take further actions against the investment bank.

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According to a Goldman regulatory filing, the SEC decided not to take any enforcement action against Goldman and Sachs regarding a 2006 offering of approximately $1.3 billion in subprime mortgage securities underwritten by the investment bank.

The filing stated that on February 24, 2012, Goldman received a ""Wells"" notice from the SEC. A Wells notice indicates intention to bring upon an enforcement action. However, Goldman was later notified by SEC staff that the investigation into the offering was completed and the staff will not recommend any enforcement action against them in regards to the offering.

In addition to the SEC decision, the Justice Department made an announcement Thursday that it won't be pursuing a criminal prosecution against Goldman.

The ""investigations into Goldman began"":http://dsnews.comarticles/goldman-sachs-subpoenaed-over-subprime-mortgage-trading-2011-06-02 after Levin and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) released a ""report"":http://www.levin.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/supporting/2011/PSI_WallStreetCrisis_041311.pdf in April based on findings from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. The report covered a two-year investigation into the financial crises and its causes.

Due to findings from the report, the subcommittee called on Goldman executives to testify, but executives refuted the charges.

Levin then called on federal prosecutors to investigate Goldman's practices related to the sale of securities to investors, and to determine if executives committed perjury in their testimony before the subcommittee.

In response to the Justice Department's announcement, Levin said, ""Those are the facts the subcommittee found. Whether the decision by the Department of Justice is the product of weak laws or weak enforcement, Goldman Sachs' actions were deceptive and immoral. That's why I and others fought so hard to include tough new conflict-of-interest provisions in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, to help ensure that Wall Street could no longer engage in such blatant behavior.""

In a previous settlement with the SEC, Goldman agreed to pay $550 million over charges that it failed to disclose important information about a collateralized debt obligation (CDO), known as ABACUS. Goldman agreed to settle the charges without admitting or denying the allegations.