The firm initially used a Chicago bank to execute currency trades, but in 1998 Mr. Koudachev ordered that all trades be made through Forex, a company in Budapest.
While it has avoided the mortgage woes that have bedeviled the nation's biggest financial institutions, it has come under scrutiny because of accusations that it and other custody banks shortchanged clients when executing currency trades for foreign transactions.
The economists Marcus Noland and Stephan Haggard, who write frequently about North Korea, point out that this is a credible method of shoring up a weak currency; in recent years, Turkey, Romania, and Ghana have executed similar currency devaluations to give their weak currencies respectability.
Establishing deception means finding a lie, so the complaint outlines in some detail how Mr. Johnson and Mr. Scott misled the company about the best way to execute the currency transaction and why the price of the pound seemed to be spiking around the planned time for the conversion.
Once Forex was engaged, the lawsuit states, "it appears that the currency trades executed by Mekhtiev, which to his knowledge were totally lawful, legitimate and sound, were not consummated".
Earlier this year, Pak Nam-gi, head of finance and planning who led the failed currency reform, was executed, according to South Korean news reports.
A related partnership, meanwhile, executes foreign currency transactions to generate a gain of $100 million and a loss of the same amount.
North Korea has executed a senior official blamed for currency reforms that damaged the already ailing economy and potentially affected the succession, a news agency in South Korea reported today.
Its primary business includes originating loans and guarantees, attracting deposits, trading in securities and foreign currencies, executing transfers, cash and credit card operations, and rendering other banking services to its customers.
Gary D. Cohn, Goldman's president, said Tuesday that the standout quarter highlighted the strength of the trading that Goldman executed for its customers, particularly its fixed income, currency and commodities unit, known as FICC.
