Goldman Sachs in talks to bring down fraud charge

Goldman Sachs hopes to avoid the fraud charge in the US Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit, it was reported today.

Lawyers for the bank have met SEC representatives to try to reach a settlement at least once since the suit was filed last month, according to the Wall Street Journal.

It was not clear how the SEC responded to Goldman's indications that it hoped to agree on a lesser charge. It is not unusual for companies accused by the SEC to try to negotiate a lesser charge in settlement talks.

The SEC has accused Goldman of creating and marketing a debt product linked to subprime mortgages without telling investors that a prominent hedge fund helped choose the underlying securities and was betting against them.

Goldman has denied wrongdoing. Both it and SEC declined comment.