(Bloomberg News) The Justice Department is reviewing a report by a U.S. Senate panel that said Goldman Sachs Group Inc. misled clients about the firm's bets on securities tied to the housing market, according to Attorney General Eric Holder.

Holder told the House Judiciary Committee at a hearing today that the department is reviewing the April report by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, led by Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat. Holder didn't say which aspects of the report, which probed the causes of 2008 financial crisis, are under review.

"The department is looking right now at the report prepared by Senator Levin's subcommittee that deals with Goldman Sachs," Holder said in Washington.

At the time the report was released, Levin said he wanted the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to examine whether Goldman Sachs violated the law by misleading clients who bought the complex securities known as collateralized debt obligations without knowing the firm would benefit if they fell in value.

Levin also said federal prosecutors should review whether to bring perjury charges against Goldman Sachs Chief Executive Officer Lloyd Blankfein and other current and former employees who testified to Congress last year. Levin said they denied under oath that Goldman Sachs took a financial position against the mortgage market solely for its own profit, statements the senator said were untrue.

'Truthful And Accurate'

In a statement when the report was released, New York-based Goldman Sachs denied it had misled anyone about its activities.

"The testimony we gave was truthful and accurate and this is confirmed by the subcommittee's own report," Goldman Sachs spokesman Lucas van Praag said.

David Wells, a spokesman for Goldman, declined to make any additional comment today.

Much of the blame for the market collapse belongs to banks that earned billions of dollars in profits creating and selling financial products that imploded along with the housing market, according to the report. The Senate panel levied its harshest criticism at investment banks, in particular accusing Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank AG of selling collateralized debt obligations backed by risky loans that the banks' own traders believed were likely to lose value.

'Divergent Views'

In a statement at the time of the report, Deutsche Bank spokeswoman Michele Allison said, "As the PSI report correctly states, there were divergent views within the bank about the U.S. housing market. Moreover, the bank's views were fully communicated to the market through research reports, industry events, trading desk commentary and press coverage. Despite the bearish views held by some, Deutsche Bank was long the housing market and endured significant losses."

The Senate panel's report also examined the role of credit- rating firms in the meltdown, lax oversight by Washington regulators and the decline in lending standards that fueled the mortgage bubble and ultimately led to hundreds of bank failures.

The turmoil beginning in 2007 froze credit markets, took down investment banks Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., sent housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into government conservatorship and caused the worst economic collapse in the U.S. since the Great Depression.

Last year Goldman Sachs paid $550 million to resolve SEC claims that it failed to disclose that hedge fund Paulson & Co was betting against, and influenced the selection of, CDOs the company was packaging and selling.