According to a recent Bloomberg report, citing sources ‘in the know,’ though Goldman Sachs Group Inc. was cautioned nine months back that the staff of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would likely file a civil lawsuit against it, the investment bank did not make any specific disclosure about it to the investors, in its regulatory filings.

As per the Bloomberg report, the so-called Wells notice was sent by the SEC to New York-based Goldman in July 2009. Goldman responded to the notice in September, and also established communication with the agency officials, in an attempt to ward off the civil lawsuit.

However, though companies normally disclose legal issues like regulatory investigations in their quarterly and annual financial reports, Goldman said in its regulatory filing in March this year that it was cooperating with regulators’ “requests for information.”

Reasoning out Goldman’s move, Adam Pritchard, an ex-SEC attorney, told Bloomberg News: “The question is whether a general disclaimer like that is rendered misleading because you left out the specifics. The prudent, conservative choice is to disclose more,” to avoid shareholder lawsuits.

On Friday, the SEC charged Goldman with fraud, alleging that the company did not to inform buyers of a collateralized debt obligation – called ABACUS - that hedge fund manager John Paulson helped select mortgage derivatives he was betting against for the deal. However, Goldman has denied any transgression in the matter.