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"The scandal here is not that Goldman was short the subprime market at the same time as marketing the Abacus deal. The scandal is that Goldman sold the contents

• ig1 17y ago
  This. I've undergone FSA mandated financial crime training while working for several financial institutions and lying about positions held in order to make a sale is the only thing that's clearly illegal here. There's a very thin line between what's legal and what's illegal, and the reason banks have compliance departments is to check over things which are borderline. In a lot of cases not only can the bank be fined but the individuals involved can also face jail time. But with borderline issues typically if they're done in good faith (full honestly, going through compliance departments) the regulatory bodies don't get too involved because they don't want to scare people away from the large number of legitimate activities which are beneficial to the system but are borderline. However in the case where someone lied outright (presumably without the knowledge of their compliance department) that's a much clearer cut-case for prosecution. It's deception for the purpose of making money, and saying "I didn't know it was illegal" doesn't wash, because it obviously is.