Goldman to Pay $2 Million to Settle Stock Sale Allegations

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. agreed Thursday to pay $2 million to settle U.S. regulators’ allegations that it improperly tried to spur interest in four Asian initial public stock offerings, including one in which it told investors to “take a goooooood look” at PetroChina Co.

The Securities and Exchange Commission said Goldman e-mailed sales pitches to investors with details of PetroChina’s $2.9-billion IPO in April 2000 before it was cleared by the agency. Beijing-based PetroChina is China’s biggest oil producer.

“If you’re sending out detailed e-mails about planned offerings to some customers, then there are other people out there who don’t have that information,” said Paul Berger, the SEC lawyer who handled the investigation. “That’s not fair.”

A senior Goldman executive also spoke to the media before PetroChina’s IPO was cleared, the SEC said.

Goldman said at the time that it sent the e-mails to 77 hedge fund and institutional clients in the United States by mistake.

Goldman reprimanded the employees involved and had their bonuses reduced by amounts ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 each, the SEC said.

“We’re pleased to put this matter behind us,” Goldman spokesman Peter Rose said. New York-based Goldman, which neither admitted nor denied wrongdoing, agreed to tougher penalties if it violates securities laws in the future.