Goldman Sachs Relied on Citigroup, Lehman for AIG Protection

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. documents show that it depended on banks including Citigroup Inc. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. for protection against a failure of American International Group Inc.

Citigroup, which received the biggest government bailout of any U.S. bank, was Goldman Sachs’s largest provider of credit-default swaps on AIG as of Sept. 15, 2008, according to documents released by Senator Charles Grassley. Lehman Brothers, which declared bankruptcy that same day, is listed as fifth-biggest. Credit-default swaps act like insurance contracts, paying the owner in the event of a default.