Kevin Duffy on the Goldman Sachs fraud trial

This trial is a diversionary tactic meant to place blame on capitalism and a few bad apples, while hiding the role of government and crony capitalism in creating the economic mess of 2008. The good Goldman is on trial, the company that in 2007 largely avoided the mistakes that sunk many of its competitors. The bad Goldman is not on trial, the company that was in deep trouble in 2008 and was rescued by the Fed and taxpayers thanks to friends in high places.

~ Kevin Duffy, Bearing Asset Management, "Bearing's Daring Duo," Reuters HedgeWorld, May 12, 2010

Jim Cramer on the SEC's flimsy case against down-and-out Goldman Sachs

Yes, indeed, I did work for Goldman Sachs. Yes, I am not proud of the way Goldman has handled this particular period. But this may be a situation where Goldman is being overrun, and I think will ultimately win. The SEC does not win every case it breaks. And I know they do not pick out the names from a phonebook, but they do not win every case.

~ Jim Cramer, stock-pumper and GS-apologist extraordinaire, CNBC Street Signs, April 16, 2010

Jim Bianco on the potential for massive CDO fraud in 2007

We've seen more of this coming and that's really what's going on that if we're going to criminal-- alright, I shouldn't say criminalize. But if we're going to say that the selection of these loans was fraudulent, that's going to be the game-changer because everybody used some kind of bias in selecting these loans. Were all those biases disclosed? Probably not in most of the cases. And if the SEC is going to say that that's what's happened, then all of these 2007-deals are going to have to be reviewed.

~ Jim Bianco, Bianco Research, CNBC Street Signs, April 16, 2010

Jim Cramer on the non-criminality of investor fraud

If they were criminalizing this it would've been the Justice Department. This is not criminal. Let's make that point. It's really important for people to understand the distinction between the SEC, and the Justice Department. The SEC does not put people in jail. They can't do that. They're procedural.

~ Jim Cramer, stock-pumper and GS-apologist extraordinaire, CNBC Street Signs, April 16, 2010

Jim Cramer on Goldman Sachs as victim in Abacus fraud

I have information, that leads me to believe that Goldman, was an investor IN, not against, but IN Abacus, and I think that's a game-changer when it comes to what the case is and what we've heard all day. [...] If this were an open-and-shut case, believe me, this is the way it works: Goldman Sachs says, 'You know what? We're sorry we did this. We're gonna throw over this guy, he's a 31-year-old-guy, he didn't know what he was doing, he was poorly supervised, we're also going to take out his supervisor, we're gonna take him out and shoot him because we understand the way the law works.' They are not doing that. Why are they so confident? Because my understanding is they were an INVESTOR, NOT shooting against the client, and that's a very important piece of... that's a very important FACT.

~ Jim Cramer, stock-pumper and GS-apologist extraordinaire, CNBC Street Signs, April 16, 2010