Former Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader Matthew M. Taylor entered a plea of guilty last Wednesday on charges of defrauding the Wall Street bank with unauthorized future trades back in 2007. The amount of the trades totalled US$8.3 billion and he admitted to exceeding risk limits as well as lying to his supervisors regarding his actions.
The thirty four year old pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court of Manhattan after voluntarily surrentering himself to federal authorities. This comes after the Commodities Futures Trading Commission filed a civil suit against the former MIT graduate. The regulatory body had alleged that Taylor fabricated trades to conceal an unauthorized position in e-mini Standard and Poor's futures contracts. This bets on the direction that the S&P Index would take.
In his allocation before US District Judge William Pauley, he said his trading position at the firm exceeded the risk guidelines set by his supervisors to a level he termed as "on the order of 10 times." He further admitted giving false statements to personnel who inquired about his position. He said he was truly sorry for causing a US$118 million loss for Goldman Sachs.
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