"Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with being responsible for the firm's large profits during the crisis.[18][19] The pair, members of Goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4 billion by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities."[1]
Two tradesmen made this in less than one year. I wouldn't be surprised if it's an order of magnitude less that the whole firm made through the whole period of the crisis.
But not all the profits are gained illegally (a priori). Of course you want the punishment to fit the crime, so you qualify how much money they made off of the crime itself and charge an order of magnitude more than that.
Convict them of 4 similar crimes and you wipe out a year's profit! I don't think GS takes a 25% drop in profits lightly.
Now in this case it sounds like they caused a lot of damage for what they did.
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For context, that's about 3 months' profits. Not nothing, but not much compared to the damage they caused.
How about this:
"Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with being responsible for the firm's large profits during the crisis.[18][19] The pair, members of Goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4 billion by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities."[1]
Two tradesmen made this in less than one year. I wouldn't be surprised if it's an order of magnitude less that the whole firm made through the whole period of the crisis.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#Actions_in_the_2...
They made 8 bil in 2014 fiscal year. That's 5/8 of their profit. It might not make up for what they did, but its a big fine.
Unless punishment sets you to negative net profit, it is not a punishment
But not all the profits are gained illegally (a priori). Of course you want the punishment to fit the crime, so you qualify how much money they made off of the crime itself and charge an order of magnitude more than that.
Convict them of 4 similar crimes and you wipe out a year's profit! I don't think GS takes a 25% drop in profits lightly.
Now in this case it sounds like they caused a lot of damage for what they did.