It’s tough to be the top dog. Goldman Sachs (GS) probably will learn this over and over. Far and away the leader of the new investment banking/private equity/hedge fund hybrid category, Goldman is an easy mark for anyone who wants to criticize any of the above sub-species of financial animals. I’ve taken my shots, highlighting Goldman’s multiple roles in a entry called No conflict, no interest.
Now short-seller superstar James Chanos has slammed the whole firm with a dig at Goldman over a dispute he’s having with one managing director, Marc Spilker. Chanos is mad at Spilker over some allegedly despoiled shrubbery between their vacation homes in East Hampton, N.Y. Basically accusing Spilker of playing fast and loose with the rules, Chanos wrote in an email published by Conde Nast Portfolio.com: “I hope this is not a harbinger of how other Goldman senior executives may act when the markets become ‘just not lucrative enough for us!'” Ouch. Another account appears in today’s New York Post.