Goldman Sachs confirms its CEO hired criminal defense attorney

This announcement near the close of the market day sent Goldman Sachs shares into a tailspin.  Wonder why they didn't wait until the end of trading.  Wonder what is in the Senate report that would make the CEO of Goldman Sachs hire a defense attorney?   Looks like a lot after investigating this further.  Senators Levin (D-MI), Chair, and Coburn (R-OK), Ranking Minority Member of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) issued a report on April 13, 2011 for the WALL STREET AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS:  Anatomy of a Financial Collapse which has over 600 pages.  A synopses of this can be found at Nano Patents and Innovations where the first part of the article says it all:

How Goldman Sachs Created The Financial Crisis While Making Billions Revealed in Senate Report

Concluding a two-year bipartisan investigation, Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Tom Coburn M.D., R-Okla., Chairman and Ranking Republican on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, on April 13 released a 635-page final report on their inquiry into key causes of the financial crisis. The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into the deepest recession since the Great Depression. 

It has taken over four months since this report came out for the CEO of Goldman Sachs to hire his own criminal defense attorney?  Looks like this Committee headed by Levin and Coburn did a really good job and now the CEO is waiting for the other shoe to drop as the SEC, DOJ, and  investor lawsuits etc. are all after Goldman.  Six days ago Allstate sued Goldman Sachs over toxic investments. 

This video from CNBC explains a few details of why the CEO would hire his own defense attorney but there are still many unanswered questions:

Goldman Sachs confirms its CEO hired criminal defense attorneyAugust 22, 2011 | 2:06 pm (pdt)

Goldman Sachs is responding to a Reuters report that its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, has hired a criminal defense attorney. 

Here's what a spokesman for the firm said in a statement:
"As is common in such situations, Mr. Blankfein and other individuals who were expected to be interviewed in connection with the Justice Department’s inquiry into certain matters raised in the PSI report hired counsel at the outset." 

PSI is the Senate subcommittee that investigated wrongdoing during the financial crisis and pointed a finger at Goldman.

Goldman shares plunged in the final minutes of trading, after the initial report on Reuters. The stock ended down $5.25, or 4.7%, at $106.51, its lowest close since March 2009. 

-- Nathaniel Popper

Certainly hope the next President will ignore Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street types when filling out their cabinet.  Have had enough of these Wall Street high rollers to last a lifetime.