• 09 Jun 2011 at 12:27 PM

Goldman Sachs Will No Longer Huddle

By Bess Levin

Despite making it clear that a huddle “is not a forum for sharing stock or sector tips to a select group of clients,” Goldman has promised not to do it anymore, and to throw Massachusetts $10 million for its troubles.

Goldman Sachs agreed to pay a $10 million fine and stop holding private meetings of stock analysts and traders known as “huddles” to settle an investigation by Massachusetts’s chief securities regulator. The settlement ends a two-year probe by William Galvin, the secretary of the commonwealth, into New York-based Goldman Sachs’s “Asymmetric Service Initiative,” in which information on analysts’ recommendations was disseminated earlier to favored clients. The company will “permanently discontinue” the practice, Galvin’s office said in a statement today.

The investigation concluded that the dissemination by equity analysts of unpublished short-term trading ideas was “a dishonest and unethical violation of the Massachusetts Uniform Securities Act by putting certain clients at an advantage over others,’’ Galvin’s office said in the statement.

[Bloomberg via BI]

Comments (15)

  1. 1
    Posted by Golden Sacks | June 9, 2011 at 4:30 PM

    Wow, what will happen next, no frontrunning?? 

  2. 2
    Posted by Hot Pants | June 9, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    I thought it said Goldman Sachs will no longer cuddle and I has a sad.

    /Taibbi Cat

  3. 3
    Posted by InfiniteGuest | June 9, 2011 at 4:38 PM

    Self-imposed ban on snuggle seshes.

  4. 4
    Posted by Dr. Rosenrose | June 9, 2011 at 4:42 PM

    $100 says that asshole Taibbi is behind this. A little too convenient that this initiative and his hairline can both be described as asymmetric…

  5. 5
    Posted by Anonymous | June 9, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    Don’t even joke about that.

  6. 6
    Posted by guest | June 9, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    does that mean i don’t need to come back anymore?

    -t. brady

  7. 7
    Posted by Guesty | June 9, 2011 at 5:04 PM

    “In entirely unrelated news, GS strategists will now be required to hang out in groups of 4 or more in such locations as the grill room at the Greenwich Country Club, the bar at NYAC, and certain select restaurants in the Hamptons. Schedules can be obtained upon request to your Goldman banker. “

  8. 8
    Posted by Guest | June 9, 2011 at 5:34 PM

    You have learn your NYC private clubs! University, R&T and Union are tops.

    NYAC is well below any place a a GS MD would be seen. NYAC is a basically a private NYSC.

  9. 9
    Posted by Barry | June 9, 2011 at 5:35 PM

    10 mil,  pocket change,  you  thnk that slap on wrist  will stifle  these  guys, taibbi’s hairline  doesn’t  stand  a chance.

  10. 10
    Posted by Guest | June 9, 2011 at 6:58 PM

    Can they still spoon though? I had my eye on this tasty i-banker…

  11. 11
    Posted by trojan | June 9, 2011 at 7:19 PM

    two year probe caught my eye… what a let down.
    -Ping

  12. 12
    Posted by About to be DQ'd by Disqus | June 9, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    A Goldman Sachs/Huddle story without the picture of Hank Paulson in his football uniform? I don’t want to suggest that things are slipping, but….. 

  13. 13
    Posted by Anonymous | June 9, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    A quiet 10M won’t stop the boys from playing

  14. 14
    Posted by Guest | June 9, 2011 at 8:53 PM

    Challenge.  Though far from “truly exclusive,” NYAC is still a respected estabilishment.

    /Just saying

  15. 15
    Posted by Guest | June 10, 2011 at 9:39 AM

    Something tells me those huddles were about already published info; back in 06 we had issues with the analysts not being able to say a thing to traders at 1NYP before the note popped up on the research portal.

    I can’t imagine that sarbox compliance rule went 180 between then and now.

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