Lisa Underwood, a primary and secondary marketer of CDOs at Goldman Sachs, resigned recently, shortly before filing a sexual discrimination suit against her previous employer, SG Cowen Securities. Underwood was head of SG's CDO group but left in 2002. She then joined Goldman last August as the firm bolstered its CDO business (LMW, 9/22). Underwood could not be contacted.
According to sources familiar with her resignation from Goldman, Underwood said she was getting out of the CDO business. Two sources stated that her departure from Goldman did not have anything to do with the suit against SG. Gregory Mount, a managing director at Goldman who heads up the CDO effort, declined comment. A spokeswoman could not provide comment by press time.
Earlier this month, Underwood filed the suit against SG and several top bankers claiming her expense accounts were delayed while other bankers were reimbursed, for things such as visits to strip clubs. An SG spokesman responded by e-mail: "We take allegations such as this very seriously, however we've found that these charges are entirely unfounded. The parties charged in this suit engaged in no wrongdoing and we intend to fight these claims vigorously."