Goldman Sachs' top executives sold about $700 million in Goldman Sachs shares following the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September, reports the Financial Times. The selling came while the firm was "enjoying the support" of the $10 billion in TARP money that it had since paid back.

You can look at this several ways: On the one hand, insiders are often selling--at some point, you pretty much have to diversify, which requires selling. On the other hand, it may look bad and some may try to make hay with this. It may have been a bit of both.

Insiders may have been prompted to sell a bit more than they normally would have given the extreme turbulence in the industry. The market was cratering and at the time it was unclear how Goldman Sachs, and all other investment banks, would fare. So it would have made sense to cut your losses a bit. We'll see if this turns into a political issue. I doubt that it will. 

For more:
- here's the Financial Times article

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