Fabrice Tourre, the former Goldman Sachs trader at the center of a toxic mortgage deal sold to investors on the eve of the financial crisis, was found liable on Thursday for civil securities fraud.
Five years after the crisis, he is the only employee of a big American bank to lose a courtroom battle to Wall Street’s top regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission. The S.E.C. took only a handful of employees to court over the crisis, but most cases were settled.
I'm sure they put tremendous pressure on to a deal to get the goods on his bosses AHAHAHAHAHAHA.
Lawyers for the former Goldman trader, however, portrayed their client as a scapegoat who was 28 at the time of the crisis. Throughout the trial, the defense lawyers reminded the jury that senior Goldman executives approved the deal.
“The idea that Fabrice Tourre, a 28-year-old vice president, was conjuring up a $1 billion fraud, or conspiring with others, is just not supported by the evidence,” Sean Coffey, one of his lawyers, said during his closing arguments.