The GS question has become a political reality now that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a suit against Goldman Sachs alleging dodgy dealing against clients' interests in one particular 2006/7 US mortgage market deal known as Abacus 2007-AC1. If found guilty, the SEC could demand that large parts of GS be shut down.

Other charges hover over the bank: that it got paid handsomely by the Greek government over the last decade to massage its figures and take debt out of the Greek national accounts, thus allowing the Greek debt crisis to become as critical as it now has; that, as both investor and advisor in last year's massive Lloyds bank capital raising, it put its own interests ahead of its client's and other investors; that it systematically uses the information gathered from clients to trade on its own account. One method it has been accused of is "frontrunning" – the practice by which a broker who sees a big order to buy or sell from a client quickly places an order just before the client's order to take advantage of the price movement that it is in a privileged position to know about.

More broadly, the company is accused of developing a narcissistic, opaque and unethical corporate culture. As the "house and the bookie" of the global financial casino, some doubt whether Goldman Sachs does anything at all that is socially valuable. Or maybe we should not be so impatient: doing God's work does not mean behaving like a fairy godmother, it means doing good when viewed in the broadest possible way.

The Cast

Goldman Sachs (GS) - The bank with the golden touch that seems to have come through the crisis bigger and stronger than any of its rivals. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission - The Depression era-body that is charged with regulating Wall Street. Robert Khuzami, its current director of enforcement and the man behind the Goldman suit, has taken on serious opponents before: "This guy is the real deal – he busted terrorist rings, broke up the mob, took down security frauds. He is fearless, and was awarded the Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award (1996), for “extraordinary courage and voluntary risk of life in performing an act resulting in direct benefits to the Department of Justice or the nation."

Paulson & Co - The hedge fund that bet aggressively – and, it turned, out, correctly – against the US housing market from 2006 onwards and made a killing from the financial crisis. A (fortunate) client of Goldman Sachs' in the Abacus 2007-AC1 deal that is at the heart of the SEC suit.

IKB - A German bank supposedly specialised in lending to the German Mittelstand – the medium-sized, family-owned German industrial firms that are considered to be the backbone of the German economic miracle. It was the (unfortunate) client of Goldman Sachs in the Abacus 2007-AC1 deal in which it lost $150m. IKB had to be bailed out by the German government in August 2008 because of US sub-prime related losses.

ACA Financial Guaranty Corporation - A bond insurance company. Initially a specialist in US Municipal bonds, it had hopped onto the mortgage bandwagon early in the century and used its credit rating to sell default insurance (Credit Default Swaps, CDSs) on bundled-up loans (Mortgage Backed Securities, MBS and Collateralised Debt Obligations (CDOs)). Over that period, ACA insured some $70bn in debts with just $425m of its own reserves. ACA also used to provide advisory and management services for assembling bundles of loans. It played some role in selecting the loans included in Abacus 2007-AC1 bundle and lost $900m on the insurance it offered on that bundle. During the upheavals of the past three years, when ACA couldn't pay its insureds, its contracts were bailed by ABN Amro, which was insuring ACA. ABN Amro was bought by RBS which picked up most of the losses made on the 2007-AC1 deal. RBS was bailed out by UK taxpayers, who therefore have a very material interest in the outcome of the SEC probe.