Goldman Sachs at source of Greece financial crisis

• Goldman 'debt-swap deal' is so bad it is now illegal.

" A Goldman Sachs boss has defended the bank's 2001 debt-swap deal with Greece that may have allowed the country to mask the extent of its debt woes.

Gerald Corrigan, chairman of Goldman Sachs Bank USA, the bank's holding company, said it was "consistent" with the regulations of the time.

• However, speaking in the UK, he admitted that "with hindsight" it should have been more transparent.

• The debt-swap deal was legal at the time,
  

• but has since been prohibited.

The complicated "currency swap" financial deal between Greece and Goldman Sachs is now being investigated by the European Union (EU) after it was discovered by the EU statistics agency Eurostat.

• It is claimed that the deal enabled Greece to hide the extent of both its public deficit and national debt.

The EU has given Greece until the end of February to give details of how it affected its accounts."...

• BBC, 2/22/10