Goldman Sachs hopes to avoid the fraud charge as part of any settlement of the lawsuit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Lawyers for Goldman have met with SEC representatives at least once since the suit was filed, the paper said.

It was not clear how the SEC responded to indications from Goldman that the company hoped to reach a settlement tied to a lesser charge than fraud, the Journal said.

The paper said it was not unusual for companies accused by the SEC to try to negotiate a lesser charge in settlement talks.

The SEC has accused Goldman of creating and marketing a debt product linked to subprime mortgages without telling investors that a prominent hedge fund helped choose the underlying securities and was betting against them.

Goldman has denied wrongdoing.

Goldman and SEC declined comment to the Journal. Both could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.