(New York) U.S. authorities are investigating Goldman Sachs’ activities on behalf of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) prior to the California bank’s bankruptcy, Goldman Sachs disclosed in a stock filing released Thursday.
Goldman Sachs is “cooperating with and providing information to various government authorities” about its work on behalf of SVB in March, the statement said, referring to the run-up to the tech finance firm’s dramatic debacle.
Goldman Sachs has come under fire for both carrying out advisory work for the bank and buying up impaired securities in a deal that was revealed to have played a central role in SVB’s bankruptcy.
U.S. authorities took possession of SVB on March 10, two days after the bank issued a statement announcing that it was seeking to raise capital quickly to deal with massive customer withdrawals, including losing $1.8 billion on the sale of financial securities.
In the same press release, SVB said it had instructed Goldman Sachs to raise fresh money.
On Thursday, Goldman Sachs clarified that the investigation by US authorities related to “the period during which SVB hired it to raise capital and when it sold it a portfolio of securities”.
About 20 elected House Democrats had asked the banking regulator to open an investigation into whether Goldman Sachs “operated independently in its advisory activities for SVB”.
