Not just misguided but not in the least concerned to be called corrupt and self-serving. Goldman and Sachs have undergone countless charges of fraud, which they typically settle out of court due to their massive legal teams and funding put aside just for that purpose. And they don't care who they go after or who they hurt.
Goldman Sachs are also known for their fraudulent research reports. The company was charged in 2007 for repeatedly issuing research reports with extremely inflated financial projections for Exodus Communications. Goldman Sachs was accused of giving Exodus its highest stock rating even though Goldman knew Exodus did not deserve such a rating. On July 15, 2003, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley were sued for artificially inflating the stock price of RSL Communications by issuing untrue or materially misleading statements in research analyst reports, and paid $3,380,000 for settlement.
Goldman Sachs is accused of asking for kickback bribes from institutional clients who made large profits flipping stocks which Goldman had intentionally undervalued in initial public offerings it was underwriting. Documents under seal in a decade-long lawsuit concerning eToys.com's initial public offering (IPO) in 1999 but released accidentally to the New York Times show that IPOs managed by Goldman were underpriced and that Goldman asked clients able to profit from the prices to increase business with it. The clients willingly complied with these demands because they understood it was necessary in order to participate in further such undervalued IPOs.
A 2016 report by Citizens for Tax Justice stated that "Goldman Sachs reports having 987 subsidiaries in offshore tax havens, 537 of which are in the Cayman Islands, despite not operating a single legitimate office in that country, according to its own website. The group officially holds $28.6 billion offshore."
There are literally dozens of 'corrupt' practices documented against the bank yet it gets away with it time and again. Having a 'revolving door' relationship with western governments, particularly the US, in which Goldman Sachs employees and consultants move in and out of high-level U.S. Government positions, also helps. The new UK Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, is a former Goldman Sachs executive.
In 2015, Goldman settled with Overstock for $20 million for participating in abusive practices described as "creating fake lendable shares out of thin air" with the end of result of "organized counterfeiting of shares in the market"; crucial evidence of the Goldman's participation in these manipulative practices surfaced when Goldman’s lawyer accidentally posted on PACER, the federal court online filing system, emails from a broker documenting his abuses.
The company has frequently driven up and driven down the price of commodities and materials including a well-documented case manipulating the oil industry. They can also get away with this via legislation. For example, a provision of the 1999 financial deregulation law, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, allows commercial banks to enter into any business activity that is "complementary to a financial activity and does not pose a substantial risk to the safety or soundness of depository institutions or the financial system generally".
In the years since the passing of this 1999 financial deregulation law, Goldman Sachs and other investment banks (Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase) have branched out into ownership of a wide variety of enterprises including raw materials, such as food products, zinc, copper, tin, nickel and, aluminium.Some critics, such as Matt Taibbi, believe that allowing a company to both "control the supply of crucial physical commodities, and also trade in the financial products that might be related to those markets", is "akin to letting casino owners who take book on NFL games during the week also coach all the teams on Sundays".
In a widely publicized 2009 story in Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi characterized Goldman Sachs as a "great vampire squid" sucking money instead of blood, allegedly engineering "every major market manipulation since the Great Depression."
Be aware that the company invests in lithium in a big way, with massive holdings in the biggest players: Lithium Americas Corp, Livent, Albemarle and SQM. Just over 20 days ago they increased their holdings in LAC by a massive 48%. I expect this was a shorted play considering the report that has come out just 3 weeks later.
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