Greg Smith and the Muppets

On March 14, Greg Smith resigned from Goldman Sachs (GS) with a scathing op-ed letter in The New York Times. After working for Goldman for 12 years, he expressed a moral dilemma, stating: "I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work."

While few seemed to think the letter revealed anything new, one juicy detail stood out: Smith ... more 

Greg Smith and the Muppets

On March 14, Greg Smith resigned from Goldman Sachs (GS) with a scathing op-ed letter in The New York Times. After working for Goldman for 12 years, he expressed a moral dilemma, stating: "I knew it was time to leave when I realized I could no longer look students in the eye and tell them what a great place this was to work."

While few seemed to think the letter revealed anything new, one juicy detail stood out: Smith claimed that Goldman refers to some clients as "muppets." There was much debate about whether this was true or false -- or if it even really mattered -- but it did precipitate an internal investigation, which came to be known as "the muppet hunt." The Financial Times reported on Oct. 10 that the investigation did not uncover any substantive evidence to back up Smith's claims.

Smith subsequently published a book this October, Why I Left Goldman Sachs, to tepid reviews. less