A lawyer for Goldman Sachs said Tuesday that the investment bank was not at fault for losses the owners of a Boston-area technology firm, Dragon Systems Inc., incurred after the Belgian company that bought their business in 2000 collapsed from fraud, just months after the acquisition.
The bank’s lawyers opened their defense in a lawsuit brought by the founders of Dragon in US District Court in Boston. James and Janet Baker, along with two other cofounders, sued Goldman Sachs, which they hired to assist in the acquisition, for allegedly misleading them into accepting an all-stock transaction worth $580 million with Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products. When the company went bankrupt, its stock became worthless. The Bakers and other Dragon shareholders lost millions of dollars.
Comments
"Fraud? What is fraud?" asks Goldman.
Classic~! In my spare time as well as time I have to find and then sacrifice, I operate a 501 c3 competely as a volunteer. I make nothing on the venture and there is no stock so no there's no lure to do anything but carry out the mission statment. We pay an outside accountant as well as a very reputable auditor. I cannot even remotely understand how Goldman can make that statement. They were supposed to do the due diligence. Scheme or no scheme, Goldman had a duty to uncover this. They need to be held responsible.