Financial crisis investigation panel subpoenas Goldman after bank refuses to hand docs over

Crisis panel subpoenas Goldman for meltdown docs

WASHINGTON — A panel probing the causes of the financial meltdown has issued a subpoena for documents from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission said Monday that Goldman refused to hand over the documents voluntarily and has made the fact-finding process difficult for months.

Panel chairman Phil Angelides said Goldman didn’t respond to some questions. With others, it provided billions of pages of documents — far more than the commission staff can process.

“This has been a very deliberate effort over time to run out the clock,” FCIC co-chair Bill Thomas said in a call with reporters. He said Goldman is “about mischief-making, and that is simply unacceptable to us.”

At least other six investment banks answered similar requests from the commission without incident, Thomas said.

Officials for the panel said it only issues subpoenas after giving companies time to cooperate.

It is not clear what documents the commission was seeking. A spokesman for Goldman said the bank has cooperated.

“We have been and continue to be committed to providing the FCIC with the information they have requested,” Goldman Sachs spokesman Michael Duvally said. He declined to comment further.

Goldman, a Wall Street powerhouse, profited from its bets against the housing market before the crisis. It continued to make huge profits after accepting bailout money and other government subsidies.

The bank’s success and lavish executive pay have drawn attention at a time when the nation is dealing with near-double-digit unemployment.

The firm’s mortgage speculation also has drawn civil fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and a criminal probe by the Justice Department.

Goldman is one of eight banks being investigated by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on charges that they misled credit rating agencies.

Bank stocks gave up early gains after the subpoena was announced. Goldman shares fell 86 cents to $141.39.

Congress created the bipartisan panel to investigate the credit crisis that led to the worst recession since the Great Depression. It already subpoenaed credit rating agency Moody’s and billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The FCIC will hold call at 1 p.m. EST to brief reporters on the subpoena. It will issue a final report on its findings by Dec. 15.

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AP Business Writer Stevenson Jacobs in New York contributed to this report.