$550 million sounds like a big number but it represents less than 6 days of trading profits to Goldman. It was a drop in the proverbial bucket.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/135785-goldman-sachs-why-are...

Reporting it as a fraction of trading profits is a confusing thing to report.

After all, Goldman has lots of non-trading costs: buildings, salaries, software licenses, vendor payments, etc. It was actually 15.5 days of profits for Goldman, plus the $90 million Goldman lost on the deal itself.

(Goldman wasn't just a perpetrator, they were also one of the victims. If you believe the SEC, Goldman helped Paulson to defraud themselves as well as others.)

>If you believe the SEC, Goldman helped Paulson to defraud themselves as well as others.

CYA

perhaps they did. but perhaps you should provide some more information about the event you refer to.

This perhaps? http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-10/goldman-executive-f...

MichaelApproved is referring to this http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-20/goldman-sachs-settl...

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won court approval to levy a $550 million penalty against Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the largest ever against a Wall Street firm, over claims the bank misled investors in collateralized debt obligations linked to subprime mortgages.

Thanks for the reference. I was on my phone, thought it was known well enough and so I didn't give more details. Will try to give more details next time.