A scathing, bipartisan report from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations offers a lot of color to the on-going narrative of the financial crisis. Several companies were implicated, but as usual, Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was singled out.

The committee was harsh in its assessment of Goldman's behavior regarding four CDOs--Hudson, Anderson, Timberwolf and ABACUS--saying it sold these products to clients without fully disclosing key information. We've certainly heard about this before in the context of ABACUS, the CDOs over which the SEC sued the firm (now settled).

This new wrinkle threatens to prolong the crisis fallout for Goldman in part because the report suggests CEO Lloyd Blankfein and other executives misled Congress when they to testified in hearings. The bank denies any wrongdoing whatsoever.

Still, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said he will refer the matter to the Justice Department. "In my judgment, Goldman clearly misled their clients and they misled the Congress," Levin said.

So is there a chance that Blankfein and others will be prosecuted for perjury? Well, the DoJ has not had much luck in prosecuting anyone in connection with the financial crisis. So one could argue that the track record suggests this will go nowhere.

But the decision to bring or not bring charges is complex. And many think the department came very close with regard to Lehman Brothers and others. Could this represent one last attempt to snare a big fish? 

For more:
- here's an overview from MarketWatch

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