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Goldman Sachs & Company

Kurta Law is investigating recommendations by Goldman Sachs & Company (CRD#: 361) brokers. Goldman Sachs & Company is a registered broker-dealer and investment advisory firm based in New York, New York.

Goldman Sachs & Company has also operated under the following names:

  • Marcus Invest Offering of Goldman Sachs & Company
  • Goldman, Sachs & Company
  • Goldman Sachs Asset Management (“GSAM”)

Fees and Conflicts of Interest

Goldman Sachs & Company discloses the fees and conflicts of interest associated with its brokerage and investment advisory services businesses in its Customer Relationship Summary (Form CRS).

  • Goldman Sachs & Company charges fees on each brokerage transaction. These fees may be charged as commissions or commission equivalents, markups or markdowns to a security’s price, sales charges, and spreads. Transaction fees incentivize the firm to encourage trading.
  • Investors may also incur administrative fees relating to specific products, such as certain investment funds.
  • Through its investment banking business, the firm may charge fees for advice and other services.
  • Brokers registered with Goldman Sachs & Company may also be personnel of affiliate Ayco Company, L.P.
  • When you invest in products issued, sponsored, or managed by Goldman Sachs & Company or its affiliates, the firm receives compensation and other benefits.
  • The firm also receives compensation and other benefits from third parties when you purchase certain third-party managed alternative investment funds.
  • Investment advisory accounts charge a fee that is a percentage of the assets in your account, incentivizing the firm to encourage you to add to your assets. You may also pay an annual custody fee.
  • You can choose a comprehensive fee schedule or separate fee schedules for each type of investment strategy. Separate fee schedules incorporate the cost of portfolio management but comprehensive fee schedules do not.
  • With separate fee schedules, some strategies may offer a wrap fee—a single fee that covers the firm’s compensation as sponsor, cost of execution, portfolio manager advisory fees, and other charges. There are also exceptions to the charges covered by a wrap fee.
  • Goldman Sachs has an incentive to encourage higher risk investment strategies because they generate higher advisory fees.

Broker-Dealer Services

Besides stocks and bonds, Goldman Sachs & Company also offers the following investment vehicles to its clients. However, investors should keep in mind that these products can come with substantial risk:

Regulatory Actions

Kurta Law wants investors to know that Goldman Sachs & Company discloses multimillion dollar fines by the SEC and FINRA in the regulatory history section of its detailed BrokerCheck page.

Surveillance Report Allegations

On February 6, 2024, FINRA filed a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver & Consent (AWC) alleging that nine of Goldman Sachs & Company’s automated surveillance reports, intended to identify potentially manipulative trading activity, failed to include warrants, rights, units, and certain over-the-counter (OTC) equity securities.

The AWC further alleged that the firm’s system of supervision did not require these automated surveillance reports to be reviewed for the inclusion of all relevant securities.

FINRA censured the firm, and ordered it to pay a $512,500 fine, $37,000 of which to be paid to FINRA and the remainder to be paid to 13 stock exchanges. You can access the full AWC here.

$6 Million SEC Fine

On September 22, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed cease-and-desist proceedings against Goldman Sachs & Company alleging that it failed to submit complete and accurate data in response to SEC Electronic Blue Sheets (EBS) requests. EBS contain securities trading records.

From at least November 2012 through October 2022, Goldman Sachs & Company allegedly submitted at least 22,192 EBS containing inaccurate information or omissions in response to SEC requests, resulting in the misreporting of trade data for at least 163 million transactions.

The SEC censured the firm, fined it $6 million, and ordered Goldman Sachs & Company to cease and desist from violations of Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and rules 17a-4(j) and 17a-25 thereunder.

$6 Million FINRA Fine

On September 22, 2023, FINRA filed an AWC alleging that Goldman Sachs & Company submitted nearly 25,000 EBS that failed to include required information or included incorrect information for at least 97 million transactions.

Additionally, the firm’s supervisory system allegedly lacked a reasonably designed process to verify the accuracy of EBS.

FINRA censured the firm, fined it $6 million, and ordered the firm to undertake a review of its supervisory system to address the issues alleged in the AWC. You can read the full AWC here.

Alleged Inaccurate LOPR Reporting

In an AWC filed on August 16, 2023, FINRA alleged that Goldman Sachs & Company failed to report or inaccurately reported OTC options positions to the Large Options Positions Report (LOPR) in approximately 1.35 million instances, and failed to reasonably supervise LOPR reporting.

Goldman Sachs & Company consented to a censure and $425,000 fine. You can access the full AWC here.

$3 Million FINRA Fine

On April 4, 2023, FINRA filed an AWC alleging that Goldman Sachs & Company mismarked approximately 60 million short sale orders, totaling more than 14 billion shares, as “long,” and executed nearly 8 million of them.

The AWC alleged that, due to this inaccurate marking, 12,335 of these 8 million orders were executed at or below the national best bid despite a short sale circuit breaker being in effect.

A short sale circuit breaker restricts the prices on short sales when the security decreases in price by 10% or more from its closing price from the previous trading day.

Goldman Sachs & Company consented to a censure and a fine of $3 million, of which $1,147,500 was payable to FINRA. You can access the full AWC here.

Brokers with Misconduct Allegations on Their Records

Kurta Law is aware of the following brokers currently or formerly associated with Goldman Sachs & Company who have allegations of misconduct on their records. If you have concerns about your broker, contact a securities attorney.

Kurta Law Can Help

Investors who lost money working with a Goldman Sachs & Company broker or advisor should reach out to an investment fraud lawyer for help. Our attorneys offer free case evaluations and do not charge a fee unless we win your case. Call (877) 600-0098 or email info@kurtalawfirm.com.