Mr. Solomon had tried to persuade Mr. Katzman not to leave Goldman, Mr. DuVally said. He added that anyone who departed while holding shares of restricted stock was required to sign a confidentiality agreement.

Mr. Solomon is to succeed Lloyd C. Blankfein as Goldman’s chief executive on Oct. 1. The firm has cultivated an image of its incoming leader as a new breed of banker, playing up Mr. Solomon’s disc-jockey hobby and his focus on work-life balance.

Goldman’s board will be briefed on his interactions with Mr. Katzman at its scheduled board meeting on Thursday, said two people who have been briefed on the plans.

For four years, Mr. Solomon’s role in the episode involving Mr. Katzman was known only to a small group of bankers in Mr. Solomon’s inner circle. Some of Goldman’s most senior executives, including the firm’s president and the chief financial officer at the time, were not briefed on the circumstances of Mr. Katzman’s departure, according to people close to Goldman.

Mr. Katzman had expressed various concerns about what he viewed as widespread unethical behavior and a corporate culture gone awry. Of the half-dozen specific issues he raised, the most troubling, from his perspective, were multiple instances when senior Goldman bankers tried to extract confidential client information from him that they intended to share with other Goldman customers or otherwise use for the bank’s benefit.

Executives at Goldman and other Wall Street firms said the conduct that Mr. Katzman described was inappropriate and was the type of behavior that had previously ignited intense criticism of the bank for mistreating clients.

Mr. Katzman’s complaints suggest that, a decade after Goldman’s actions during the financial crisis severely tarnished its reputation, the firm continues to struggle with cultural problems. In the past, Goldman has been accused by employees, clients and government authorities of trying to profit at the expense of customers. Goldman, like other big banks, has tried to repair its image by emphasizing employees’ ethical obligations and setting up new rules to discourage bad behavior.