Five senior executives at Goldman Sachs Group Inc sold company stock after the firm received notice of possible fraud charges, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The stock sales, which totaled $65.4 million, were made by co-general counsel Esta Stecher, vice chairmen Michael Evans and Michael Sherwood, principal accounting officer Sarah Smith and board member John Bryan.

The executives made the sales between October 2009 and February 2010. Goldman received notice of the possible charges in July of 2009.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil fraud lawsuit on April 16 against the bank, saying Goldman had failed to tell clients that debt securities they were buying had input from hedge fund Paulson & Co, which stood to benefit if the securities lost value.

Goldman shares fell 12.8 percent on the day the SEC filed its lawsuit. The company has called the SEC allegations unfounded in fact and law.

A spokesman for Goldman did not immediately return calls seeking comment on the report.

(Reporting by Mark Weinraub; editing by Tim Dobbyn)

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