The ratings agencies are more culpable for the scandal swirling around Goldman Sachs than Goldman Sachs itself, the head of an independent ratings agency said Monday.
“They had the obligation for assessing the quality of the underlying securities and they rated them at the triple-B level and they were not anywhere near that,” said Sean Egan, president of Egan-Jones Ratings Company.
“Furthermore, on the securities issued by the CDO itself it shouldn’t have been anywhere near investment grade either," he said.
Egan-Jones, which competes directly with those other ratings agencies, rated ACA at B minus at the time of the Goldman deal.