Goldman Sachs Just Says 'VP' to Be Polite

Aleynikov sued the firm for the money, on the theory that Goldman's bylaws require it to indemnify its officers for their legal expenses, and that he was an officer of Goldman Sachs. After all, he was a vice president, and "vice president" sure sounds like it means "officer." No one would argue that Joe Biden is not an officer of the U.S. government. Goldman's theory, on the other hand, is that "vice president" is a "courtesy title" handed out to roughly one-third of its employees, and of course they're not all officers. Aleynikov persuaded a trial court that he was right, but yesterday a federal appeals court overturned that ruling and, amazingly, sent the case back for a jury trial on whether Goldman Sachs's vice presidents are officers.