WSJ Joins in Calling Out Bloomberg

Alberto P. Veiga (CC BY)

Last week we highlighted significant factual inconsistencies in a Bloomberg story about Goldman Sachs by Alice Schroeder, in which she claimed that “senior Goldman people have loaded up on firearms to defend themselves if there is a populist uprising against the bank.” (I’d link to the original Bloomberg story, but they’ve deleted it, replacing it with an amended version in which some of the weasel words in the already flimsy story have been replaced with language that shows how truly weak it is.) Her sole source was a friend of a friend of friend, who claimed to have written a character reference for a friend’s New York City pistol permit application; the application requires no such reference. Efforts to get Ms. Schroeder to explain her story were unsuccessful.

Now the Wall Street Journal has picked up the story. Author Susanne Craig writes:

New York police spokesman Paul J. Browne says that their records show only four Goldman employees have applied for gun permits in recent years — and the last application was made in 2003. That application, by the firm’s head of security for a “carry permit”, [sic] was granted. The only other employee granted a NYPD carry permit” is a building security guard. It was issued prior to 2003, said a police spokesman. Those applying for a permit must list their employer.

Two Goldman employees have residential permits, allowing them to have guns in their homes. The last of these permits was issued in 2001, Browne said. One of the permits was issued to a trader and the other was given to a graphic designer.

“We haven’t seen a surge of applications of any kind for Goldman Sachs employees,” said Browne.

The WSJ and the NYPD alike have tried to contact author Alice Schroeder. She’s still not talking. Neither is Bloomberg.