A former Goldman Sachs trader nicknamed 'Fabulous Fab' has been found liable in a fraud case brought by federal regulators in response to the 2007 mortgage crisis that pushed the country into recession.
A jury gave the verdict at the civil trial in Manhattan federal court against Fabrice Tourre.
According to CBS News, Touree is a French-born Stanford graduate described by Securities and Exchange Commission lawyers as the face of 'Wall Street greed'.
Tourre's attorneys portrayed him as a scapegoat in a downturn caused by larger economic forces.
The 34-year-old has been found liable in six of seven SEC fraud and other claims and faces potential fines and a possible ban from the financial industry.
According to the report, the SEC had accused Tourre of misleading institutional investors about sub-prime mortgage securities that he knew were sure to fail, setting the stage for a valued Goldman hedge fund client, Paulson and Co. Inc., to secretly bet against the investment.
The maneuver ended up making one billion dollars for the hedge fund and its wealthy president, John A. Paulson, and millions of dollars in fees for Goldman, the report said.
The SEC also sought to show that it helped earn Tourre a bonus that boosted his salary to 1.7 million dollars in 2007, it added.
