Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre demands court throws out fraud case

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He made his statement to a Manhattan court last night, days after Goldman agreed to pay $550 million to settle civil fraud charges brought in April by the US Securities Exchange Commission.

The Wall Street regulator said it planned to continue its lawsuit against Tourre, a Frenchman accused of putting together the product known as Abacus 2007-AC1.

Tourre's lawyers said in the court filing that he "cannot be held liable for any misrepresentations or omissions that he did not make".

They also said the claims were "based solely on alleged actions and omissions concerning information known to many different Goldman Sachs employees working in various aspects of its business".

A spokesman for the SEC declined to comment and Goldman was not immediately available.

The SEC civil fraud lawsuit rattled the bank's clients and investors, but the settlement announced on Thursday sent the stock soaring by 9%, highlighting how the market took the view that Goldman had come out on top with a relatively small fine - equivalent to about two days pay and bonuses for its staff.

Many investors viewed the settlement as only a slap on the wrist for a bank that earned more than $13 billion last year.

The response of Tourre, an executive director of Goldman Sachs International in London, also denied SEC allegations that hedge fund Paulson & Co played a significant role in the selection of the product's portfolio.

Tourre, who testified before a US congressional committee on the civil charges, was vice-president on Goldman's structured products correlation trading desk in New York from 2005 to 2008.

His response said the SEC complaint "fails to plead fraud with particularity" and "fails to allege the existence of any material mis-statement or omission".

"The purported claims against Mr Tourre and the allegations upon which they are based are improperly vague, ambiguous and confusing, and omit critical facts," the court document said.