Editing Creative accounting (section)

=== Currency swap concealment of Greek debt by Goldman Sachs ===
{{See also|Goldman Sachs#Involvement in the European sovereign debt crisis}}
In 2001–2002, [[Goldman Sachs]] aided the government of [[Greece]] after its admission to the Eurozone to better its deficit numbers by conducting large [[Currency swap|currency swaps]]. These transactions, totaling more than 2.3 billion Euros,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/goldman-sachs-greece-derivatives-idUSLDE61L1KH20100222|title=Goldman Sachs details 2001 Greek derivative trades|date=2010-02-22|work=Reuters|access-date=2019-09-23|language=en}}</ref> were technically [[Loan|loans]] but concealed as currency swaps in order to circumvent [[Maastricht Treaty]] rules on member nations deficit limits and allowed Greece to "hide" an effective 1 billion euro loan.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-debt-crisis-how-goldman-sachs-helped-greece-to-mask-its-true-debt-a-676634.html|title=Greek Debt Crisis: How Goldman Sachs Helped Greece to Mask its True Debt|last=Balzli|first=Beat|date=2010-02-08|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=2019-09-23}}</ref> After Goldman Sachs had engineered the financial instrument and sold it to the Greeks—simply shifting the liabilities in the future and defrauding investors and the [[European Union]], the investment bank's president [[Gary Cohn (investment banker)|Gary Cohn]] pitched Athens another deal. After Greece refused the second deal, the firm sold its Greek swaps to the Greek national bank and made sure its [[Short (finance)|Short]] and [[Long (finance)|Long]] positions towards Greece were in balance—so that a potential Greek default would not affect Goldman Sachs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/goldman-sachs-shorted-greek-debt-after-it-arranged-those-shady-swaps-2010-2|title=Goldman Sachs Shorted Greek Debt After It Arranged Those Shady Swaps|website=Business Insider|access-date=2019-09-23}}</ref>