Goldman More Open Since Subpoena, F.C.I.C. Says

Goldman Sachs has changed its tune, becoming more responsive to information requests from the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission since being subpoenaed, the heads of the F.C.I.C. said Tuesday, according to a report from Bloomberg News.

The investment bank has also made its chief, Lloyd C. Blankfein, available for an interview, Phil Angelides, the chairman of the F.C.I.C., and the deputy chairman, Bill Thomas, said during a conference call with reporters.

Last month, the commission investigating the causes of the financial crisis subpoenaed Goldman Sachs and accused the investment bank of trying to delay and disrupt its inquiry.

“Goldman Sachs has not, in our view, been cooperative with our requests for information, or forthcoming with respect to documents, information or interviews,” Mr. Angelides said at the time.

However on Tuesday, Mr. Thomas said: “I have no question that we will get it in a timely matter now.”

As for the bank’s chief, Mr. Angelides said that Mr. Blankfein had been interviewed “at length” recently by commission staff.

In June, the commission harshly rebuked Goldman Sachs for what its said were delay tactics.

“They may have more to cover up than either we thought or than they told us,” Mr. Thomas said at the time.

Mr. Angelides and Mr. Thomas accused Goldman of inundating the panel with data — about five terabytes, equivalent to several billion printed pages — and dragging its feet on answering detailed questions about derivatives, securitization and other business activities.

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Vacationing Ex-CEO Tierney Seeks to Dodge Subpoena

Philadelphia Newspapers LLC is trying to get former Chief Executive Brian P. Tierney out of testifying at the company’s Chapter 11 plan-confirmation hearing, which began Thursday.

The company, which publishes the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, said in bankruptcy-court papers that Tierney is not required to appear in part because the subpoena was not delivered to him but was instead delivered to his niece.

“The attempted service was made by handing a copy of the subpoena to Mr. Tierney’s niece who was at Mr. Tierney’s residence while he was in Europe, traveling with his family,” company attorneys said.

That attempt was a violation of court rules that require “personal service of subpoenas,” they said.

In addition, Tierney doesn’t plan to return to the U.S. until Monday evening, the day the three-day hearing is scheduled to conclude.

“Requiring Mr. Tierney to testify…would be unduly burdensome,” the company said.

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The Electronic Turn in Criminal Subpoenas

Companies served with a criminal subpoena often face a challenging dilemma. With hundreds of gigabytes, or even a few terabytes, of electronically stored information on their servers and employees' hard drives, how do they ensure an adequate response to the subpoena without their electronic discovery costs spiraling out of control?

In the civil context, parties are encouraged to meet, confer, and cooperate in the selection of key words or other search methodologies. In a criminal investigation, however, no parallel system exists.

Strict compliance with a subpoena seeking ESI may be extraordinarily burdensome and unreasonable both in time and expense. While a subpoenaed company may correctly believe that conducting highly targeted searches would result in its producing documents directly relevant to the government's investigation, the company is often at risk as to whether the protocols it employs may later be deemed by a prosecutor or regulator to be insufficient. The consequences could range from a motion to compel compliance with the subpoena to actual charges of obstruction of justice.

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