Lloyd Blankfein yesterday attacked the Securities and Exchange Commission's fraud charges against Goldman Sachs in telephone calls to important clients, telling them the regulator's case against the bank was politically motivated and would “hurt America”, according to a person who received a call.

The Goldman chief is mounting a campaign to halt the damage to the firm's reputation and bolster the confidence of its business partners in the wake of SEC charges that the bank sold investors a security that was designed to fail.

In the conversations with private equity firms and others, Mr Blankfein left clients with the impression that he was eager to fight the charges in court and was in no mood to settle with the SEC. “He was very aggressive,” said one person who got a call from Mr Blankfein yesterday. “He feels that the government is out to kill them, that they are under attack and the whole thing is totally political.” Mr Blankfein told this person that the SEC action “hurts America”.