During the two-day interrogations by Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) members, as to whether Goldman Sachs Group accelerated the financial crisis, the executives of the investment bank defended the company's contentious pricing of illiquid mortgage derivatives.

In response to the questions about whether the investment bank intentionally discounted prices to push markets lower because it laid a wager on a fall in the value of subprime mortgage-backed debt, Goldman's President and Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn, and Chief Financial Officer David Viniar argued that the investment bank's prices in 2007 and 2008 was only a reflection of the market conditions.

Philip N. Angelides, the FCIC chairman, asked Viniar whether Goldman was intending to push the market down by driving down the prices, especially when the company was "net short."

In reply, Viniar said that the investment bank has never instructed anybody to mark things down; and added: "We mark where the market is."

The interrogations by the FCIC members largely resulted from the controversy about whether Goldman's policies aggravated the near-bankruptcy of American International Group (AIG) or the investment bank was a more cautious risk manager focusing chiefly on marking assets to fair value.

Incidentally, with its record 2007 profit propelled largely by bets against securities backed by subprime mortgages, Goldman was one of the largest buyers of AIG's insurance covering such debt and increased demands for collateral from the insurer as prices tumbled.