Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met privately with Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s board in Moscow last year and kept the occasion off his official calendar, according to a new book about the financial crisis.

Paulson, who was chief executive officer of Goldman Sachs before taking the Treasury post in 2006, arranged the meeting when he realized he’d be in the Russian city on business at the same time as the New York-based firm’s board was meeting there, according to Andrew Ross Sorkin’s“Too Big to Fail.”

In his almost two years leading the Treasury Department, Paulson had only had one other private event with a company’s board, attending a cocktail party hosted by BlackRock Inc., according to the book. The meeting with Goldman’s board in late June 2008 was deemed a “social event” to ensure it didn’t violate U.S. government ethics rules, the book said. Still, Paulson aide Jim Wilkinson asked John Rogers, the firm’s chief of staff, to keep the plans quiet, the book says.

In the meeting at the Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel, Paulson shared stories about his experience at Treasury and gave the Goldman Sachs directors his views on the economy, the book says. When they questioned him about the possibility that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. or another bank could fail, Paulson talked about the need for the government to gain the power to wind down troubled financial firms, the book says. He concluded by saying that while there could be tough times ahead, he thought the worst might be over by year end, the book says.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein told a director of the firm the next day that he didn’t know why Paulson would say that, adding “it can only get worse,” the book recounts.

Wilkinson and Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag declined to comment. Rogers and Michele Davis, who served as Paulson’s assistant secretary for public affairs, didn’t immediately return calls seeking comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Harper in New York at charper@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 17:25 EDT