Goldman Sachs Accuser Greg Smith (Might Have) Lied About That Which He Holds Most Sacred
Earlier this week, a man named Greg Smith resigned from Goldman Sachs. Smith informed his bosses of his decision to quit around 6:40 AM local (London) time and, a few hours later, circled in the rest of the world with an Op-Ed in the New York Times, which he penned not out of a desire to violate his (former) employer in the most gruesome fashion possible in front of clients and other interested parties but because he believed it to be the right, nay, the only thing to do. In the piece, Greg explained that his decision to leave the firm after 12 years of service did not come easily. But, after months of beating down a nagging little voice, a moment of truth presented itself that he could not deny. During rehearsals for the college recruiting video he starred, Greg realized that the lines he was delivering re: Goldman being a great place to work were a lie. A bald-faced one, in fact. Goldman had changed in the years since the Greg-ster arrived, and whereas it once felt like home and the people in it family, he'd come to regard it as a den of evil, run by monsters. Monsters who called clients "muppets"; who only cared about making money; who valued "shortcuts" over "achievement." Of the latter, Greg spoke from plenty of experience. Though his personal achievements are too numerous to mention in full, they include being named a Rhodes scholar (finalist), learning to tie his shoes at the age of 22, winning third place for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games, and being named captain of the South African national table tennis team. OR WAS HE?
Table Tennis Nation spoke with one South African player who told us he remembered young Greg Smith studying and doing homework in between matches. The same player told us Smith’s serve was the key to his success–a deadly serve is one of the hardest things to perfect. Rainer Sztab, who ran the club Smith played at in South Africa–Gauteng Maccabi Table Tennis Club, said Smith was “a stand-up kid, he always did what was right…very bright and really well liked and behaved." Sztab also confirmed that Greg Smith competed in the Maccabiah games in 1993 (as a junior) and again in 1997 as a senior. One thing Sztab said really stood out, Smith’s Goldman Sachs bio had at least one big lie. The Goldman Sachs bio said Smith “was captain of the South African national table tennis team” which Sztab says is not true.
We cannot confirm it, but it is possible Smith was the captain of the Maccabiah team which would make him captain of A South African national table tennis team, but not THE team that competes in International competition like the Olympics that the bio seems to imply. We know that corporate bios are usually written by third parties and at the end of the day aren’t all that important, but it seems like someone touting table tennis as a sign of integrity would have taken issue with this error.
"IT SEEMS LIKE SOMEONE TOUTING TABLE TENNIS AS A SIGN OF INTEGRITY WOULD HAVE TAKEN ISSUE WITH THIS ERROR." If that isn't the most scathing indictment of Greggles to date, I don't know what is. Nevermind being persona non grata on Wall Street (William Cohan: "he's toast...he's in the witness protection program")-- Greg Smith is about to be shunned by the table tennis community. Table Tennis Nation hath spoken!
Greg Smith And Table Tennis Integrity [TTN via BI]