Goldman Sachs Fined for Failing to Block Trade

Will pay $1.5 million for trader who hid $8.3 billion position

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. will pay $1.5 million to settle U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission claims the firm failed to supervise a trader who hid an $8.3 billion position. One CFTC commissioner dissented, saying the penalty is far too small.

Goldman Sachs inadequately policed trades made by Matthew Marshall Taylor on seven days in late 2007, ultimately suffering more than $118 million in losses as his bets were unwound, according to the CFTC. Later, Goldman Sachs didn't send the regulator "important information" on the incident that was provided to another industry watchdog, the CFTC said.

"Given the egregious nature of the failure to supervise adequately, combined with the high number of violative transactions, I believe that the monetary penalty should be significantly higher," Bart Chilton, one of three Democrats at the CFTC, wrote in a dissent posted on the regulator's website. Fines should represent more than a "slap on the wrist," he said.