By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — It has not been a good couple of weeks for Wall Street.
Long simmering public animosity toward Wall Street hit a fever pitch last week after reports that federal prosecutors launched a criminal probe of Goldman Sachs to determine whether the Wall Street titan committed securities fraud just a week after a profanity-ridden Senate subcommittee hearing.
DNAinfo went to the financial district to talk to industry employees, protesters, and other members of the Wall Street community about what they thought, who was to blame, and how it feels to go to work at the epicenter of a national controversy.
On the street, many financial services workers said their professions are being misrepresented by the deeds of a few.
“I think people need to realize that most of Wall Street is people just doing their jobs and trying to make a living,” said Samuel Lee, a 25-year-old assistant for American International Group.
Some critics, however, balked at that explanation.
“The people that work for these banks, they could be decent human beings,” said Sarah Wellington, a 27-year-old artist. “But it’s really the whole system that they are perpetuating that is causing these problems.”
The federal investigation comes nearly two weeks after the Securities and Exchange Commission hit Goldman with a lawsuit saying it misled investors in a mortgage deal designed to fail, which allowed the firm to reap profits while the US economy tanked. The SEC suit triggered the probe, which is in preliminary stages, several news outlets reported.
