[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Actually, in this What Went Wrong post, all possible charges against Goldman Sachs were dropped and the firm walked away with a victory.   On Thursday, the SEC advised Goldman Sachs that it had completed its investigation into the firm's handling of a $1.3 billion subprime mortgage deal, and SEC staffers do "not intend to recommend any enforcement action."  The SEC, which began the investigation in February 2012, suspected that whether Goldman had misled investors into thinking that the collateral mortgages underlying the securities were a safe bet in 2006, when they were sold. The SEC's failure to pin civil charges on Goldman Sachs is an indication that federal investigations related to the financial crisis are petering out.  Goldman's Fremont deal, known as Fremont Home Loan Trust 2006-E, was one piece of a broader investigation into the MBS's.  Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase also received warnings of potential action by the SEC. While the SEC has brought more than 100 financial crisis-related cases, including a major action against Goldman in 2010, the agency had hoped to put some final exclamations – in the forms of significant fines and sanctions – at the SEC winds down this group of investigations and gets nears the end of its probes into Wall Street's role in the crisis. Notwithstanding this victory for Goldman, the firm agreed to pay $550 million in 2010 to settle SEC charges related to another investment pool backed by subprime mortgages,  In that case, the SEC alleged that Goldman failed to disclose to investors that hedge fund manager John Paulson – who had helped create the underlying portfolio - bet against the securities – implying he could have purposely stocked the collateral with "sure losers." Goldman is not out of the woods entirely. Last year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sued Goldman and 16 other financial firms that sold the mortgage giants nearly $200 billion in mortgage-backed securities that later soured.  Its action against Goldman cited the Fremont investment. For further details, go to [Dealbook, 8/9/12].