Goldman CEO not to blame, Buffett says

New York : Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett praised Goldman Sachs Group chief executive officer Lloyd Blankfein and said the bank shouldn't be blamed for losses suffered by clients who invested in mortgage bets at the centre of a fraud suit filed by regulators.

"He's done a great job running that firm," Buffett said Saturday in Omaha, Nebraska, in a Bloomberg Television interview before Berkshire's annual shareholders meeting. He said he supports Blankfein "100 per cent".

Buffett, 79, has become one of Goldman Sachs's most visible advocates after the firm was sued last month by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading clients who invested in a collateralised debt obligation known as Abacus 2007-AC1.

The SEC said that firms including ABN Amro Bank weren't told that the hedge fund led by John Paulson helped pick the mortgages in the CDOs and was betting on them to fail.