According to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, the Securities and Exchange Commission held discussions recently with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) about a possible settlement to resolve the fraud charges against the firm and other probes of its mortgage department.

Goldman is looking to settle eagerly, as the firm would like to end the paid publicity it has seen since the SEC filed charges in April related to a collateralized debt obligation.

If Goldman is able to negotiate its way out of its various charges it could go a long way to ease the concerns of investors, and would allow the Wall Street bank to avoid making public information that could be used in civil court. Shareholders have been pushing Goldman to take this course of action.

The government seeks to uncover any evidence of wrongdoing by the firm that may be used against Goldman in existing cases, while the bank is looking for a Get Out of Jail Free card from the SEC in order to limit its legal liability.

Goldman is holding firm about ending the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) without facing a civil-fraud charge, as Goldman cannot afford to end the FCIC investigation with admitting nor denying fraud.

Analysts have anticipated that Goldman will end up paying a fine of more than $1 billion (no doubt using the $12 billion they received from US taxpayers) to avoid going to court and face civil fraud charges.

Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s most prestigious investment banks, was also among the many banks in 2008 and 2009 to receive billions of dollars in taxpayer money to help it stay afloat. Like others in the securities industry, Goldman Sachs advises and invests in nearly every industry affected by federal legislation. The firm closely monitors issues including economic policy, trade and nearly all legislation that governs the financial sector. It has been a major proponent of privatizing Social Security as well as legislation that would essentially deregulate the investment banking/securities industry. The firm tends to give most of its money to Democrats. A number of high-ranking government officials in recent years have spent part of their careers at Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs’ donations to both the Democrats and Republican parties of the United States government.

List of the top donors to Barack Obama in the 2008 election cycle. The ones in bold have been subpoenaed to appear and give testimony at the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in Washington DC.

University of California $1,591,395
Goldman Sachs $994,795
Harvard University $854,747
Microsoft Corp $833,617
Google Inc $803,436
Citigroup Inc] $701,290
JPMorgan Chase & Co $695,132
Time Warner $590,084
Sidley Austin LLP $588,598
Stanford University $586,557
National Amusements Inc $551,683
UBS AG $543,219
Wilmerhale Llp $542,618
Skadden, Arps et al $530,839
IBM Corp $528,822
Columbia University $528,302
Morgan Stanley $514,881
General Electric $499,130
US Government $494,820
Latham & Watkins $493,835