Goldman Sachs won’t face charges as part of a shareholder lawsuit against mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae.
A federal judge dismissed the charges against the investment bank, saying that there was no evidence Goldman Sachs prepared any of Fannie Mae's misleading financial statements or knew about them in advance.
Shareholders had accused Goldman Sachs of helping to arrange deals allowing Fannie Mae to shift more than $100 million of earnings into future years through real estate mortgage investments without properly informing investors. Such alleged moves were part of Fannie’s widespread accounting problems, which eventually culminated in a $6.3 billion restatement.
The larger shareholder case against Fannie Mae's former executives will continue.
Fannie Mae has spent more than $1 billion correcting its accounting practices, and is currently engaged in another legal battle against its former auditor KPMG, which was dismissed in 2004 as problems began to come to light.
