Senate Releases Damaging Goldman Sachs Emails From 2007 Mortgage Crisis

The Senate investigation into Goldman Sachs’ economic successes during the 2007 subprime mortgage crises has now resulted in the release of emails late in that year that prove Sachs was deliberately betting against the housing market to make money while the rest of the market fell.

CEO Lloyd Blankfein is quoted in a November 2007 email related to a New York Times story as stating “we didn’t dodge the mortgage mess. We lost money, then made more than we lost because of shorts. Also, it’s not over, so who knows how it will turn out ultimately.” Other executives make several references to shorts, which at one point made them $50 million in one day while the rest of the market was crashing, as well as what CFO David Viniar called “the big short,” which the NYT reports made the company $373 million. There are also some miscellaneous unflattering quotes, like openly stating “looks like we will make some serious money,” “looks like we are in a good position,” and a “good news/bad news” email that makes it clear that they were aware that betting against clients was both hurting the clients and helping the business.

Below is a PDF of all the emails currently released. The Senate investigations subcommittee has promised the release of several more on Monday; we’ll have them for you as they come in.

Goldman Sachs Emails

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