Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it will examine claims by an employee who quit Wednesday that executives "callously" talk about "ripping their clients off" in order to make more money for the securities firm.

The pledge was part of a daylong scramble by the New York company to contain potential damage from the public attack. The employee, 33-year-old Greg Smith, wrote in the New York Times that he had decided to walk away from his 12-year career at Goldman because of the firm's "toxic and destructive"...