Gary Cohn Makes “Charitable Contribution” After Stiffing Goldman For $10MM 1MDB Penalty

Former Goldman Sachs President and Trump 1.0 economic policy advisor Gary Cohn just got the better of his former employer, thanks to a loophole often exercised by captains of industry traveling through the “revolving door” connecting Wall Street and Washington.

Cohn, along with four other current and former Goldman executives, was supposed to pitch in a nearly $70MM in aggregate (his personal contribution was supposed to be roughly $10MM).

But unlike his four former colleagues, a group that includes both CEO David Solomon and former CEO Lloyd Blankfein, Cohn was able to cash out all of the options and payouts owed to him by Goldman when he departed the bank to take on a role in the Trump Administration.

Goldman’s gesture of rounding up and returning cash from top executives was intended to be a high-profile “act of contrition.” All five top Goldman executives played a role in the 1MDB deal, including circumventing red flags raised by compliance, to help a corrupt leader and his cronies loot $5BN from a sovereign wealth fund financed with cash raised by the Vampire Squid and its clients.

But extracting money from Cohn posed a unique challenge. That’s because the bank had accelerated payments to him when he joined President Donald Trump’s White House in 2017 as director of the National Economic Council. The cash-out — a standard practice when executives jump to senior government posts — was meant to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest as he shaped policy.

Goldman’s plan called for executives to give up most or all of a long-term incentive created in 2011 and some other compensation. For Cohn, that would have totaled in excess of $10 million.

Cohn walked away with roughly $200MM in stock, investments etc when he left Goldman back in 2017. Six months later, he was unemployed again after some headline-grabbing strife between him and the prison. He didn’t disclose how much he’s giving to charity. But we suspect it’s short of the $10MM he was supposed to hand over to

“Mr. Cohn is a team player, and as a good corporate citizen, he volunteered many weeks ago to make a significant charitable contribution to Goldman Sachs-sponsored organizations,” a representative for Cohn said in a statement. He “looks forward to doing so.” Cohn didn’t disclose how much he’s giving to charity, which will go to pandemic relief and supporting social justice.

Giving credit where credit is due, it looks like Cohn has outfoxed his former employer, the federal government and the Davos set. And now, in addition to escaping the Trump Administration, Cohn will be able to write off this charitable contribution on his taxes as well.