Goldman executives sold stock, boosted bonuses alongside bailout: report
14 Jul 2009
Executives of Wall Street investment banker Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold around $700 million worth of the company's stock even as the failed bank was receiving bailout funds from the US treasury, reports said on Tuesday.
Goldman also raised pay and bonuses to staff to an average £430,000 a year, with the executives gaining payouts of multi-million-pounds.
Among the top earners are the joint Goldman Sachs chief executives Michael Sherwood and Richard Gnodde as well as Yoel Zaoui, head of investment banking in Europe.
Filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed that most of the stock sales took place while the investment bank was being bailed out by the government with $10 billion of treasury funds.
The news comes amidst reports that the Wall Street banking giant is set to report second-quarter profits of £1.2 billion after raking in bumper fees.
The hike in bonuses amidst the general economic slowdown has infuriated critics who see a return of the lavish rewards for financiers that fuelled the financial market crisis.
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