Will new leadership steer Goldman Sachs out of PR muck?

February 6, 2012

Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street giant that has been battling negative publicity since the financial crisis of 2008, may be looking for a new PR chief, The New York Times reports. In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Goldman of securities fraud, charges the company paid $550 million to settle. Comments from chief executive Lloyd C. Blankfein haven’t helped the firm’s business problems, such as in a 2009 interview when he reportedly told The Times of London that he was doing “God’s work.”

But the person often criticized for Goldman’s communications miscues is Lucas van Praag, who has run the bank’s public relations department for more than a decade. Fueling speculation that van Praag is leaving, Bloomberg News reported that Goldman Sachs was in talks to hire Richard Siewert Jr., a former counselor to Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. Whether he can turn the firm’s business problems around remains to be seen, but the possibility of Goldman hiring Siewert highlights the often cozy relationship between Wall Street and government organizations, the Times reports. — Greg Beaubien

Updated Feb. 8:

The New York Times reports that van Praag is retiring from the firm next month.

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