Ex-Goldman Economist Indicted

A former top economist at Goldman Sachs & Co. was indicted Thursday on seven counts charging him with illegally trading on confidential information about the Treasury Department's plan to end sales of 30-year bonds.

John Youngdahl was charged with conspiracy, wire fraud and securities fraud, among other charges.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan also charged a Wall Street consultant, Peter Davis, with illegally providing the information to Youngdahl so he could pass it on to Goldman traders.

There was no immediate information on when either man would appear in court. Attorneys for the two men could not immediately be reached.

Davis attended Treasury Department press conferences in 2001 and illegally provided Youngdahl with the bond information before it was to be made public, according to a federal indictment.

The press conferences are held each quarter, and attendees must agree not to publicize the information before an embargo time set by the Treasury Department, the indictment said.

The indictment centers on an Oct. 31, 2001, announcement that the department was suspending issuance of its 30-year bond — a development that triggered one of the biggest single-day rallies ever in the U.S. bond market.

Davis allegedly attended the department's press conference and called in the information to Youngdahl. Goldman traders made $1.5 million in illegal profits by snapping up the bonds before the information went public, prosecutors say.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney James Comey scheduled an afternoon press conference to discuss the charges.

As the criminal charges were filed, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil suit against Youngdahl, Davis and Steven Nothern, who the SEC said bought $25 million in bonds on the illegal information.

At the time of the 2001 press conference, Nothern was a senior vice president at MFS Investment Management, a Boston-based investment consulting firm.

The SEC said Davis had settled the SEC charges against him, agreeing to pay at least $149,000. He neither admits nor denies the charges under the settlement.

Goldman itself agreed to pay more than $9 million to settle charges by the SEC that it failed to stop traders from buying on the news, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Journal, citing anonymous sources, also said MFS would pay about $1 million to settle the SEC charges.