Fresh off a settlement with Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), the Structured and New Products Unit at the SEC (SEC news) is riding high. The Washington Post details some of the unit's lofty ambitions. The Goldman Sachs case was the first one launched by the unit. And there may be more ahead.

The unit is now looking at the practices of other big-name firms. You might think that Goldman's sales practices were not all that different than firms of similar stature. So it stands to reason that more cases would be forthcoming. My sense is that there were probably enough of these blown-up CDO sales incidents (CDO news) that we'll see some sort of global settlement, wrapping all firms into the same set of charges. This would be most efficient for all involved.

Lest anyone think the Structured and New Products Unit cares only about European investors--they were the main victims in these CDO cases--the unit is also looking at products that were marketed to U.S. investors, perhaps including retail investors. The area would appear ripe for picking. You can bet pensions and municipal officials are giving investigators an earful.

For more:
- here's the article

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