The US regulator issued civil proceedings against Goldman on Friday claiming that it failed to disclose conflicts of interest during the marketing of sub-prime mortgages in which investors lost $1bn. One of the biggest victims of the transaction was Royal Bank of Scotland, losing $840m.

Separately, it was also revealed at the weekend that Goldman was set to pay out £3.5bn in bonuses to its staff worldwide for just three months work.

Which is like bithday and Christmas coming at once for campaigning politicians. A general election over here and mid-term elections in the States make Goldman-bashing excellent sport (cue Taibbi’s reservations).

The SEC allegations centre around the claim that Goldman misled investors as to the level of risk associated with a synthetic collateralised debt obligation (CDO) transaction struck just before the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage bubble.

It said Goldman’s marketing materials for the “Abacus” portfolio were “false and misleading” because they did not mention that short investor John Paulson had played a significant role in the selection process.

And it focused on suggestive e-mails from Fabrice Tourre the 31 year-old Goldman executive at the centre of the claims.

“More and more leverage in the system. Only potential survivor, the fabulous Fab[rice Tourre]… standing in the middle of all these complex, highly leveraged, exotic trades he created without necessarily understanding all of the implications of those monstrosities!!!”

But despite all of that, Goldman’s harshest critic is still surprised…