page_title: Goldman Sachs controversies
section_title: Involvement in the European sovereign debt crisis
hierarchical_section_title: Goldman Sachs controversies / Involvement in the European sovereign debt crisis
caption_attribution_description: English: Departing Greek prime minister George Papandreou (left) hands leadership of Greece over to new prime minister Lucas Papademos. Ελληνικά: Ο αποχωρών πρωθυπουργός Γεώργιος Α. Παπανδρέου παραδίδει την ηγεσία της Ελλάδας στον Λουκά Παπαδήμο κατά την τελετή παράδοσης παραλαβής στο Μέγαρο Μαξίμου. This file has been extracted from another file&#x3a;&#32; Τελετή παράδοσης-παραλαβής στο Μέγαρο Μαξίμου.jpg This is a retouched picture, which means that it has been digitally altered from its original version. Modifications: Resized. The original can be viewed here: Τελετή παράδοσης-παραλαβής στο Μέγαρο Μαξίμου.jpg.
context_page_description: Goldman Sachs controversies are the controversies surrounding the American multinational investment bank Goldman Sachs. The bank and its activities have generated substantial controversy and legal issues around the world and is the subject of speculation about its involvement in global finance and politics. In a widely publicized story in Rolling Stone, Matt Taibbi characterized Goldman Sachs as a "great vampire squid" sucking money instead of blood, allegedly engineering "every major market manipulation since the Great Depression."
context_section_description: Goldman is being criticized for its involvement in the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis. Goldman Sachs is reported to have systematically helped the Greek government mask the true facts concerning its national debt between the years 1998 and 2009. In September 2009, Goldman Sachs, among others, created a special credit default swap (CDS) index to cover the high risk of Greece's national debt. The interest-rates of Greek national bonds soared, leading the Greek economy very close to bankruptcy in 2010 and 2011.
  Ties between Goldman Sachs and European leadership positions were another source of controversy. Lucas Papademos, Greece's former prime minister, ran the Central Bank of Greece at the time of the controversial derivatives deals with Goldman Sachs that enabled Greece to hide the size of its debt. Petros Christodoulou, General Manager of the Greek Public Debt Management Agency is a former employee of Goldman Sachs. Mario Monti, Italy's former prime minister and finance minister, who headed the new government that took over after Berlusconi's resignation, is an international adviser to Goldman Sachs. Otmar Issing, former board member of the Bundesbank and the Executive Board of the European Bank also advised Goldman Sachs. Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, is the former managing director of Goldman Sachs International. António Borges, Head of the European Department of the International Monetary Fund in 2010–2011 and responsible for most of enterprise privatizations in Portugal since 2011, is the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs International. Carlos Moedas, a former Goldman Sachs employee, was the Secretary of State to the Prime Minister of Portugal and Director of ESAME, the agency created to monitor and control the implementation of the structural reforms agreed by the government of Portugal and the troika composed of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Peter Sutherland, former Attorney General of Ireland was a non-executive director of Goldman Sachs International.
caption: Former Prime Minister of Greece Lucas Papademos
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