Goldman Sachs was fined $450,000 on Tuesday by U. S. regulators and stock exchange authorities for hundreds of violations involving short sales.

USA Today has reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission and New York Stock Exchange Regulation fined the bank for continuing to write naked short sale orders after regulators banned short sales two days after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.

It was reported that short sales are deals in which an investor borrows an asset and then sells it, betting the price will go down. The investor agrees to buy the asset at a later date. If the price drops, the investor makes money.

A naked short sale is the same, except the investor skips formally borrowing the asset.

The New York Times also reported that in Washington, Sen. Arlene Specter, D-Penn., has suggested strengthening the financial reform bill to force financial brokers to bet on the same side as their clients.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the beleaguered firm said six lawsuits had been filed against it for "breach of fiduciary duty, corporate waste, abuse of control … and unjust enrichment."

It had been reported that last month, the SEC charged Goldman with loading bonds with securities secretly designed to fail. (With Inputs from Agencies)