Bailout Recipient Goldman Sachs Tries to Silence Blogger

Investment bank Goldman Sachs bank has hired Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to shut down a blogger who has been critical of the Wall Street investment bank. Mike Morgan was warned in an April 8 cease-and-desist letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his website.

Florida-based Morgan began a blog entitled "Facts about Goldman Sachs" – the web address for which is goldmansachs666.com – just a few weeks ago. In that time Mr Morgan, a registered investment adviser, has added a number of posts to the site, including one entitled "Does Goldman Sachs run the world?". However, many of the posts relate to other Wall Street firms and issues.

Goldman Sachs has came under increasing criticism for the revolving-door relationship in which its highly-paid employees and consultants have moved in and out of powerful U.S. Government positions in which they were able to advance the interests of Goldman Sachs. The current chief economic adviser to President Obama, Lawrence Summers, has received large speaking fees from Goldman Sachs ($135,000 for a single event), and the previous Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson, was a former CEO of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs has received billions of dollars in taxpayer-supported government loans that have protected the firm from insolvency, while its richly-compensated management has remained intact. The combination of secrecy in Goldman Sachs' dealings with the U.S. Government and the consistently favorable government treatment of the company has led to widespread suspicion of improper influence and "legal corruption" of the U.S. Government by Goldman Sachs.

According to Chadbourne & Parke's letter to blogger Mike Morgan, the bank is rattled because the site "violates several of Goldman Sachs' intellectual property rights" and also "implies a relationship" with the bank itself.

But Morgan is unlikely to go down without a fight. He claims he has followed all legal requirements to own and operate the website – and that the header of the site clearly states that the content has not been approved by the bank. "I've had advice from some of the best intellectual property lawyers, and I know exactly what I can and can't do. We're not going to back down from this," he promises.