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Goldman resignation letter. Judge's critique. Now, the fallout?

Goldman resignation letter blistered Goldman Sachs for putting its interests ahead of customers. A state judge nearly kills Goldman deal over conflict of interest. Firm now says it will try to strengthen conflict-of-interest controls, but doesn't tie review to Goldman resignation letter.

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Richard Drew/AP
Traders work in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Thursday. Greg Smith, an executive director at Goldman Sachs, resigned with a blistering public essay that accused the bank of losing its 'moral fiber.' Stung by the Goldman resignation letter and a judge's comments last month, the firm said it aims to strengthen internal controls to prevent conflicts of interest.
  • By Pallavi Gogoi AP Business Writer

| NEW YORK

Goldman Sachs, the investment bank blistered by a resigning employee this week for how it does business, said Friday that it will try to strengthen internal rules to prevent questions about conflicts of interest.

A U.S. judge almost killed a deal between two energy companies last month because Goldman had ties to both parties: The bank collected a fee for advising one company, and a Goldman banker owned stock in the other.

Goldman was stung Wednesday by an Op-Ed article published in The New York Times by a young banker who was quitting the company. The Goldman resignation letter accused the firm's executives of privately insulting clients and not acting in customers' best interest.

The bank did not offer specifics Friday on the review of its policies.

The energy deal was a $21 billion buyout of El Paso, a Houston natural gas and oil company, by Kinder Morgan, a Houston natural gas pipeline company. The judge ultimate allowed the deal.

Goldman collected a fee for advising El Paso on the deal. The judge criticized Goldman for failing to disclose that one of its lead bankers on the team, Steve Daniel, personally owned $340,000 of Kinder Morgan stock.

People like Daniel "get paid the big money because they are masters of economic incentives, and keenly aware of them at all times," said the Delaware judge, Chancellor Leo Strine.

Goldman had disclosed other conflicts: Its private-equity arm owned a stake in Kinder Morgan, and it controlled two seats on Kinder Morgan's board.

"We regret that El Paso's board wasn't aware," said David Wells, a spokesman at Goldman. "We are reviewing our policies and procedures with the goal of strengthening them."

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