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The article discusses a report from the U.S. Senate on the U.S. mortgage market in the years leading up to the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was criticized for selling mortgage-backed securities while believing those securities would decline in value. In 2004 financial-services firm Washington Mutual ignored it's risk officer's warning that house prices were set to fall.

The article examines the relationship between the investment bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and the insurance company American International Group (AIG) during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009. Goldman Sachs has submitted documents to a U.S. independent commission investigating the crisis detailing how it established prices for mortgage-backed securities it insured with AIG, a transaction which brought the latter firm to the brink of collapse.

The article focuses on the business failure of the bank Washington Mutual Inc. and its financial relationship with the financial services company Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Documents released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Governmental Investigations indicate that Goldman marketed many of the mortgage-backed securities created out of subprime mortgages issued by Washington Mutual.

This article reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating other failed mortgage investment deals arranged by large Wall Street firms that also misled investors similarly to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. The investigations are looking at investment products designed by these firms that allowed key clients to bet that there would be a sharp housing downturn.

The article discusses the appearance of several Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executives before a U.S. Senate panel. Several senators including John McCain and Carl Levin accused Goldman of unsavory practices with respect to mortgage-backed securities. Goldman chief executive Lloyd Blankfein defended his firm's actions.