[Infowarrior] - Goldman Sachs intimidating critical blogger

[Richard Forno]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/5137489/Goldman-Sachs-hires-law-firm-to-shut-bloggers-site.html

Goldman Sachs hires law firm to shut blogger's site

Goldman Sachs is attempting to shut down a dissident blogger who is  
extremely critical of the investment bank, its board members and its  
practices.

By James Quinn, Wall Street Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:16PM BST 11 Apr 2009

The New York headquarters of Goldman Sachs, which has instructed a  
Wall Street law firm to tell a blogger to stop criticising the bank

The bank has instructed Wall Street law firm Chadbourne & Parke to  
pursue blogger Mike Morgan, warning him in a recent cease-and-desist  
letter that he may face legal action if he does not close down his  
website.

Florida-based Mr 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.

According to Chadbourne & Parke's letter, dated April 8, the bank is  
rattled because the site "violates several of Goldman Sachs'  
intellectual property rights" and also "implies a relationship" with  
the bank itself.

Unsurprisingly for a man who has conjoined the bank's name with the  
Number of the Beast – although he jokingly points out that 666 was  
also the S&P500's bear-market bottom – Mr 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.

On a special section of his blog entitled "Goldman Sachs vs Mike  
Morgan" he predicts that the fight will probably end up in court.

"It's just another example of how a bully like Goldman Sachs tries to  
throw their weight around," he writes.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mr Morgan explained how he went  
through a similar battle with US homebuilder Lennar a few years ago  
after he set up a website to collect information on what he alleged  
was shoddy workmanship in its homes. The pair eventually settled out  
of court.

"Since I went through this with Lennar, 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.

Mr Morgan adds that if Goldman manages to shut down his site, he has a  
number of other domain names registered.

• Speculation is mounting that Goldman Sachs is set to raise several  
billion dollars via a share sale, possibly next week, in order to pay  
down a $10bn (£6.8bn) US government loan, as revealed in The Sunday  
Telegraph last week.