The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. — Ethics Grade D

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. receives an overall ethics grade of D (35/100) on CancelCo's corporate accountability database. Sector: Financial Services. Market cap: Large Cap.

Category scores

• labor: 40
• privacy: 60
• consumer: 30
• environment: 55
• humanRights: 50

Documented incidents (3)

• 1MDB Sovereign Wealth Fund Scandal (high, 2020) — Goldman Sachs paid over $5 billion to settle charges related to its role in the 1MDB scandal, where billions were looted from Malaysia's state development fund through bond offerings.
• Gender Pay Gap Settlement (medium, 2023) — Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $215 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit alleging systemic underpayment of female employees and discriminatory performance reviews.
• Abacus CDO Fraud Charges (high, 2010) — The SEC charged Goldman with fraud for misstating facts about a subprime mortgage product (Abacus 2007-AC1) as the housing market began to collapse, failing to disclose a hedge fund was betting against it.

Documented good deeds

• Sustainable Finance Commitment — Committed $750 billion toward sustainable finance, including climate transition and inclusive growth projects, by 2030.

Ethical alternatives

• Trillium Asset Management — An investment firm focused exclusively on sustainable and responsible investing with high ethical standards.