The firm is the proud recipient of one of just 12 subpoenas issued by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission since its creation last year.
The FCIC, the congressionally-appointed body charged with assembling an authoritative explanation for the financial meltdown by year-end, said Monday that it subpoenaed Goldman Sachs “for failing to comply with a request for documents and interviews in a timely manner.”
Goldman isn’t the first firm to get an FCIC subpoena, obviously. But neither has the FCIC been sending out a flurry of subpoenas.
Tucker Warren, the FCIC’s communications deputy, said the panel has issued 12 in total. He didn’t name the recipients.
So far, the FCIC has heard from 69 witnesses over the course of 10 days of testimony. When the panel took its first testimony in January, the first witness was Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein.
“We’ll use our subpoena power as needed,” FCIC chairman Phil Angelides said at that meeting.
Berkshire Hathaway chief Warren Buffett got a subpoena last month, after he declined the panel’s invitation to appear at a hearing of the role credit ratings played in the crisis. The FCIC responded by ordering him to appear at the hearing, which was held on June 2 in New York.
Buffett did appear, but made clear his displeasure by not providing an opening statement. The feeling clearly was mutual, as FCIC vice chairman Bill Thomas (right) told Buffett before opening his questions last week that he wouldn’t be asking for any autographs.
Moody’s, the subject of last week’s hearing, got a subpoena in April from the commission, also for failing to produce documents in a timely manner.
Goldman, for its part, is pretending there is no conflict. “We have been and continue to be committed to providing the FCIC with the information they have requested,” a spokesman said.
Its shares, off 16% for the year as Congress overhauls banking rules and regulators pursue a civil fraud case against the firm, were fractionally lower in midday trading.