Goldman Sachs Raises Top End of Legal Loss Range to $3 Billion -- Update

By Justin Baer 

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised the top end on its range of "reasonably possible" legal losses to about $3 billion, the Wall Street firm said Monday in a regulatory filing.

The estimate, which tracks potential losses above what was already set aside in reserves, stood at about $2.5 billion in November.

Goldman set aside $754 million for legal and regulatory proceedings last year, compared with the $962 million in net provisions the firm took in 2013. The firm recorded $161 million in provisions during the fourth quarter.

The forecast for "reasonably possible" losses doesn't include "any future claims from the continuing investigations" of a U.S. task force designed to probe banks' actions in creating mortgage bonds that soured during the financial crisis, Goldman said in the filing.

The firm said it received a letter in December from the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of California noting prosecutors had "primarily concluded" that Goldman had violated federal law in connection with underwriting, securitizing and selling mortgage bonds. The prosecutors said they may file a civil action related to the case, and asked Goldman to respond to the allegations.

Goldman said it had redeemed about $2.97 billion in hedge-fund investments since March 2012, as the firm moved to comply with the so-called Volcker rule that limits how big banks put their own money at risk. Goldman sold $762 million in those investments in 2014.

Goldman also said Monday that its traders posted net losses on 28 days last year. In the same period, the firm had more than $100 million in net trading revenue on 28 days.

Write to Justin Baer at [e-mail]

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