NEW YORK (AP) — An Illinois pension fund that bought shares in Goldman Sachs Group Inc. in January of last year is suing the company to recover “billions in compensation” that the investment firm paid its employees in 2009.
The Central Laborers’ Pension Fund filed the suit in the Supreme Court of New York on Thursday, saying that Goldman continued to pay out lavish bonuses even though a government bailout was crucial to its survival.
“Defendants’ conduct shows that, even though Goldman is supposedly owned by public shareholders, defendants have scant regard for the interests of those shareholders,” the plaintiff said in the suit.
Named as defendants are Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein, Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn and others.
The suit said the company was on track to pay employees $22 billion in 2009, despite previously requiring a $10 billion injection from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and receiving $13 billion from insurer AIG after the government bailed it out.
Goldman Sachs shares rose $3.41, or 2 percent, to close at $177.67.