The Federal Reserve has dismissed a court order prohibiting the world’s largest multinational investment bank and financial services company from using insider information.
The Federal Reserve Board on Tuesday announced the November 18, 2021 termination of the Cease and Desist Order dated August 2, 2016, enforcement action against The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC, which was formerly known as Goldman, Sachs & Co.
The central bank released the Wall Street giant around the same time Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced that she would vote against Jerome Powell’s nomination for a second term as Federal Reserve chairman because she viewed him as a dangerous man who would weaken banking rules.
The Federal Reserve Board on August 03, 2016, ordered Goldman Sachs Group to pay a $36.3 million civil money penalty for its unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information.
The central bank also required Goldman Sachs to implement ‘an enhanced program to ensure the proper use of confidential supervisory information.’
The Fed accused Joseph Jiampietro, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, of having in 2014 asked a junior banker Rohit Bansal to obtain secrets from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where Bansal once worked, for use in Goldman’s client advisory work and pitches to potential clients.
The Fed permanently bar Joseph Jiampietro from the banking industry stemming from his and his subordinates’ unauthorized use and disclosure of confidential supervisory information.
Confidential supervisory information includes reports of bank examinations and other confidential reports prepared by banking regulators. It is illegal to use or disclose confidential supervisory information without prior approval of the appropriate banking regulator.
Bansal and Jason Gross, his source at the New York Fed, pleaded guilty in November 2015 to the theft of government property. Both were sentenced to probation and received industry bans.
In levying the fine on Goldman Sachs, the Board found that the firm’s personnel improperly used confidential supervisory information of the Board in presentations to its clients and prospective clients in an effort to solicit business for the firm. Further, the Board found that from at least 2012, the firm did not have sufficient policies, procedures, or adequate employee training in place to ensure compliance with current laws prohibiting the unauthorized use or disclosure of confidential supervisory information. The Board’s order requires Goldman Sachs to put in place an enhanced program to ensure compliance with Board regulations concerning the receipt, use, and dissemination of confidential supervisory information.
The Board expects all firms, including Goldman Sachs, to comply with all U.S. laws, rules, and regulations. The board of directors of Goldman Sachs must ensure that its senior management implements an effective compliance risk management framework and that potential compliance risk failures are appropriately brought to the attention of senior managers and addressed immediately. The Board will actively monitor Goldman Sachs’ effectiveness in doing so.
The order prohibits Goldman Sachs from re-employing individuals involved in the improper disclosure of confidential supervisory information or retaining them as consultants or contractors. In November 2015, the Board permanently barred a former Goldman Sachs employee from the banking industry following his guilty plea for the theft of confidential supervisory information