U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. does not have to face Capmark Financial Group Inc.'s $147 million lawsuit claiming it was improperly influenced by the bank to refinance $1.5 billion in unsecured debt in a way that improved its position as a creditor, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Horsham, Pa.-based Capmark claimed the sum was an insider preference paid to Goldman within a year of the Capmark bankruptcy. Judge Sweet said Capmark cannot claim the presence of a Goldman employee on its board means that the New York-based bank must return the $147 million because that argument contradicts its earlier position in the bankruptcy case. "Plaintiffs represented to the Delaware bankruptcy court that the secured credit facility was negotiated at 'arm’s length,'" Judge Sweet said in his ruling. "Plaintiffs now assert a claim that requires the secured credit facility to have been a non-arms-length transaction."
