Goldman Sachs isn’t indifferent to important ethical and public policy concerns, whether that necessarily helps or hurts the Wall Street bank’s bottom line. We know this because last week, CEO Lloyd Blankfein took to Twitter for the first time ever to repudiate President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord; previously, he’d gone public in opposition to the president’s proposed ban on travel to the U.S. from certain Muslim-majority nations.

What, then, are we to make of Goldman Sachs fund managers’ recent secondary-market purchase, at a steep discount, of $2.8 billion in bonds issued by the state-owned oil company of Venezuela; that is to say, the same government that guns down pro-democracy protesters on a near-daily basis and otherwise subjects its people to vast corruption and economic privation?

The transaction was a really sweet deal for Goldman and its clients. The firm paid only $865 million for the securities, a near-70 percent markdown from face value reflective of Venezuela’s parlous finances. Of course, Goldman’s fund will be entitled to $2.8 billion in 2022, when the bonds mature, and meanwhile gets 19 percent annual interest, a cool $756 million. But what a terrible deal this is for the people of Venezuela, since on the other end of the transaction, ultimately, stands the Venezuelan central bank – which held the bonds and sold them to Goldman.

The cash Caracas reaped will help President Nicolás Maduro survive the (very) short term, or even stay in power long enough to pay back Goldman in 2022, necessarily by imposing more brutal austerity on his people. Yes, the opposition might be in power by then; leaders pledged to stiff Goldman if it is. But the firm would probably break even under any scenario short of total debt repudiation, which would not be in a future democracy’s own interest.

Even among the world’s odious regimes, Venezuela is a special case. If Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street really want a reputation for social responsibility, they will eagerly seek alternatives to business as usual with Caracas.