"Fabulous Fab" Defense?: The Lawyers Did It

Fabrice Tourre, the Goldman Sachs & Co. trader, has chosen a novel defense against federal regulators accusing him of fraud. He's blaming the in-house lawyers.

In a filing Monday (pdf) in federal court in Manhattan, the self-described "Fabulous Fab" denied allegations by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he made materially misleading statements or omissions in a 2007 deal involving subprime mortgages.

Tourre asked the court to dismiss the complaint (pdf).

Also see: Proposed Consent by Goldman | Proposed Judgment | Biggest Bank Settlements (pdf)

The SEC said Tourre was the principal figure who "devised the transaction, prepared the marketing materials, and communicated directly with investors."

But among several defenses to the charge, the filing said the claims against him are based on information "known to many different Goldman Sachs employees," including in the legal and compliance departments.

"Tourre, a French citizen and engineer by training, reasonably relied on Goldman Sachs' institutio ...