Goldman Sachs' legal headaches don't start and end with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Reports surfaced late Thursday that federal prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Goldman and its employees, over whether it may have committed securities fraud in its mortgage trading operations.

A representative for the firm would not confirm reports of an inquiry, but said they were not surprised given the scrutiny the firm has endured in recent weeks, adding they would cooperate with any requests for information.

The latest legal action builds on the high-profile civil case brought against the company last month by the SEC, in which the agency charged the firm and one of its employees with defrauding investors in the sale of securities tied to subprime mortgages.

In many ways, the agency's case has become a game changer for Goldman. Not only has it tarnished the gilded reputation of Wall Street's top firm, it also exposed the company to series of new legal attacks across a number of fronts.

Since the SEC announcement, top German and British officials, including UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, have demanded investigations into the firm's dealings, opening the door to additional regulatory probes.

The law firm that won Enron investors $7.2 billion in what was one of the largest class action suits in the history of securities law filed charges against Goldman Sachs on Monday.

Robbins Geller Rudman and Dowd filed the lawsuit in U.S. district court in Manhattan, aiming to recover investors' losses stemming from the fraud charges issued earlier this month by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The suit, which currently names investors Howard Sorkin, Ilene Richman and "all other similarly situated" as the plaintiffs, is seeking class-action status.

It charges Goldman Sachs, as well as C-suite members CEO Lloyd Blankfein, CFO David Viniar, and President and COO Gary Cohn, with deceiving investors about the bank's financial conditions.

The complaint alleges that by failing to disclose conflicts in the sale of ABACUS 2007-AC1 -- the now-famed financial portfolio at the center of the SEC's charges -- Goldman Sachs caused investors to purchase the stock at artificially inflated prices.

Ihosvany Marquez spent his Medicare millions on a fleet of luxury cars, authorities say, including a Lamborghini Murcielago with spaceship-like doors that cost $455,959.

Early Monday, he pleaded guilty in Miami federal court to healthcare fraud charges alleging he submitted $55 million in false Medicare claims for HIV and cancer services at his seven Miami-Dade and Orlando clinics. Between 2005 and 2007, he and his partners raked in $22 million from the taxpayer-funded healthcare program.

Marquez, a Miami-Dade resident who could face more than 20 years in prison, ranks as a big spender among the hundreds of local Medicare-licensed operators accused of ripping off the government program for the elderly and disabled.

Among Marquez's alleged 19 car purchases for himself, his wife, other relatives and his personal trainer: A Lamborghini Gallardo, a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti, two Bentley Continental GTs, two Mercedes Benz CL63s and at least six Mercedes Benz S550s. The total tab: $2.7 million. He also spent $545,652 on jewelry and watches, among them a Rolex Meteorite for $48,000 and a diamond necklace for $108,443, authorities say. And he bought a seven-carat diamond ring for $98,086.

The former owner of two failed companies was the person in “de facto” charge of Cheadle-based law firm Wolstenholmes prior to its collapse in December, Crain's has discovered.

Ex-staff who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Wasim Saddique, who was brought in by former managing partner Nasser Ilyas as consultant to advise the firm, was effectively running it. Saddique is also said to have brought in his own people to head key functions in the firm, such as accounts and IT.

Saddique and another consultant, Mario Cardinali, conducted interviews with potential new recruits and instructed money to be transferred from client accounts to the office account. It is not clear whether the firm carried out background checks on either of them.

A South Dakota woman who prosecutors say had a blood-alcohol level almost nine times the legal driving limit has pleaded guilty to two drunken driving charges. Authorities said 45-year-old Marguerite Engle was arrested Dec. 1 when she was found passed out behind the wheel of a stolen delivery van along Interstate 90, with a blood alcohol level at 0.708. The legal limit in South Dakota is 0.08. Officials have said Engle's blood alcohol level likely is a record for the state.

She was arrested again in late December, with a blood alcohol level more than 3 1/2 times the legal limit.

Engle faces up to two years in jail when she is sentenced on Feb. 23. In exchange for her guilty pleas, prosecutors have agreed not to pursue other charges, including receiving stolen property and drug possession.

The couple skipped previous court hearings without explanation after being accused of using an invalid credit card to defraud San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito of more than $10,000.

Their attorney Robert Sanger did not immediately return a call seeking comment. He has said the Quaids repaid the ranch and hoped to resolve the case.

It appeared the Quaids had forfeited a total of $40,000 in bail when they failed to appear for a hearing last week.

But a judge allowed that money to stand as bail Tuesday and freed the two defendants, prosecutor Lee Carter said.

Brandon Piekarsky, 18, and Derrick Donchak, 19, were charged in the July 2008 beating death of 25-year-old Luis Ramirez in the town of Shenandoah. A separate indictment charges three police officers with obstructing the investigation into Ramirez's death.

Judge Malachy Mannion ruled that Piekarsky and Donchak should remain locked up pending trial, calling them dangers to the community. He set a March trial date.

A Schuylkill County jury acquitted the teens in May of the most serious state charges against them — including third-degree murder in Piekarsky's case — angering Hispanic leaders and civil-rights groups. Gov. Ed Rendell then asked the Justice Department to pursue civil rights charges.

Mannion noted that it is extremely rare for the federal government to pursue charges in a case already decided in state court.