The Importance of Being Fabrice
Why have the SEC only picked on Fabrice Tourre…?
The Securities and Exchange Commission’s civil suit against Goldman Sachs is notable for its focus on one individual, Fabrice Tourre. Mr. Fabulous was only about 29 at the time of the Abacus transaction and was a mid-level Goldman executive which raises a few questions as to why.
According to the S.E.C. he “devised the transaction, prepared marketing materials and communicated with investors.” That’s a lot of responsibility for someone in his position, so why he is he the only one in the spotlight?
Professors Steven M. Davidoff and Peter J. Henning have taken a look.
NYT: Any sale of a security of this magnitude was likely to involve a multitude of people, including lawyers to document the transaction and vet the disclosure and multiple executives to assist in the structuring of the transaction.
The transaction itself was approved by Goldman’s mortgage capital committee, comprised of executives from the mortgage, legal and compliance groups. Not one of these individuals has been charged by the S.E.C. even though they probably had knowledge of the same facts the complaint is based on.
The reasons are two-fold why only Mr. Tourre has been accused of securities fraud at this point.
Suggestive emails and a $2m dollar pay day despite his involvement in a deal that ultimately lost $90 million look like big red flags. Check out the full article for more.









