Goldman Sachs charged with fraud over subprime mortgage scheme
A US watchdog has charged top Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs with financial fraud and raised the prospect of a wider crackdown. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a civil suit, accused Goldman of "defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts" about a product based on sub-prime mortgage-backed securities. The securities were a key contributor to the financial crisis that peaked in 2008 because many contained risky mortgages.