Goldman Sachs has agreed to pay a settlement in the region of $110m, split between the New York Department of Financial Services and the Federal Reserve Board, for the improper use of inside information relating to client orders in chat rooms. An article on the settlement can be found here on the Bloomberg web site.  The press release from the Department of Financial Services can be found here and the consent order here.

The consent order shows several chat room transcript extracts, with the revelations of client information to keep spreads  at a certain level. Different clients have different nicknames in the chats. The order also discusses how certain personnel gave warnings, which were not escalated. The order discusses how although polices against such practices were in place, they were not adequately implemented.