The Goldman Sachs employee at the heart of allegations that it duped buyers of a complex credit instrument is still employed by the bank and has not been suspended, the bank said on Monday.

"He remains an employee of Goldman Sachs," a spokeswoman for the bank said. Still, 31-year old Fabrice Tourre had made a "personal decision to take a bit of time off," she said.

Goldman Sachs had concluded in an earlier internal investigation that Tourre had done "nothing wrong," the spokeswoman said.

It had launched its investigation as soon the Securities and Exchange Commission first contacted the bank about the case.