An executive of Goldman Sachs, Fabrice Tourre who was recently charged with misleading investors about risky assets ahead of the US housing market meltdown has said that nobody charged him with fraud, reports AFP. According to Fabrice Tourre he reasonably relied on Goldman Sachs’ institutional process to ensure adequate legal review and disclosure of material information, and cannot be held liable for any alleged failings of that process.

Tourre is accused of selling the complex investment product called Abacus backed by mortgage securities before the collapse of the subprime market in 2007. The regulators claim that Tourre was to warn investors that a hedge fund controlled by investor John Paulson was involved in the selection of the composition of the Abacus, and that Paulson was betting on the fall of the US housing market, says AFP. As for the company itself, in its statement Goldman Sachs has acknowledged that the investment materials lacked complete information on Abacus.

The lawyers for Fabrice Tourre have filed a response to the charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: AFP