Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) has been smacking down Goldman Sachs executives all day about an internal memo that described a particular deal as “shitty,” though Goldman continued to sell it to clients.
Levin’s latest victim was CFO David Viniar, who Levin got to admit that it is “unfortunate” that anyone at the firm would try to sell a deal they believed to be “shitty.”
At today’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, Levin asked Viniar how he reacts to hearing about the email. “Do you feel anything?” Levin asked.
Viniar replied: “I think that’s very unfortunate to have on e-mail,” which got a smattering of laughter from around the room.
“On an e-mail?” Levin shot back angrily. “How about feeling that way?”
Viniar started to backtrack: “I think that’s a very unfortunate thing for anyone to have said in any form.”
“How about to believe that and sell that?” Levin asked.
“I think that’s unfortunate as well,” Viniar responded.
Watch:
