Goldman spent about 28 hours on Monday repeating over and over how neither it nor anyone else has done anything wrong. Which is why we are scratching our heads at the news just reported by the WSJ that Goldman decided to deregister Tourre with the London FSA. Sure, there is an explanation: 'A Goldman spokeswoman said the company decided to de-register Mr. Tourre with the Financial Services Authority because the London-based employee is on indefinite paid leave, and therefore won't be interacting with Goldman's clients.' That sounds about as credible as Irene 'Cash Cow' Aldrdige's defense of the ethics of HFT.
Goldman's de-registration of Mr. Tourre came the same day that the FSA said it was launching 'a formal enforcement investigation' of Goldman's U.K. subsidiary 'in relation to recent SEC allegations.' Goldman said it plans to fully cooperate with the FSA in its investigation.
Mr. Tourre worked for Goldman in New York at the time that the alleged fraud occurred. He transferred to Goldman's London offices in late 2008, and the FSA registered him to work in a client-facing job at Goldman Sachs International on Nov. 24, 2008.
Tuesday afternoon, the FSA's online database of registered financial employees continued to list Mr. Tourre's registration as 'active.'
That's ok. Fab Fab can always come work in the US where his Finra broker record still lists him as registered with 10 SRO and is allowed to practice in 52 US states and territories.
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