A US District Judge ruled last week that the regulator could bring the case (even though it related to a deal that was sold by a French national, based in Europe, to international firms headquartered overseas.
Tourre's lawyers did manage, however, to reduce the scope of the case, which centers around the sale of a single CDO sale, named Abacus, and the regulator's claim that Tourre had a duty to tell investors on the buy side that hedge fund manager John Paulson was on the other side of the transaction as he felt that it would soon sharply fall in value (which it did).
Tourre is understood to have been given the opportunity to settle the case at the same time Goldman did (the firm paid $550m last year in an attempt to move on), but he is said to have refused to do so as he was not prepared to admit that he did anything wrong, and had no wish to be subjected to a ban from the industry.
Finally, there are various reports in the media that Bank of America is to close its main 15-person bond trading desk in order to comply with Dodd-Frank. All the traders are thought likely to leave the firm.
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