“More than six years ago, Gail Kreitman contacted a former colleague to pitch a new debt investment that her employer at the time, Goldman Sachs, was putting together.

“Ms. Kreitman’s efforts — and her sometimes-conflicting memories of them — have since become a big focus at the civil trial of Fabrice P. Tourre, a former Goldman trader whom the government has accused of defrauding investors with that mortgage deal.

“On Monday, Ms. Kreitman concluded two days of testimony during the trial, which has become one of the most prominent cases linked to the financial crisis of 2008. The Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing Mr. Tourre of misleading investors about the debt security, which ultimately failed. He has denied any wrongdoing.

“For the S.E.C., Ms. Kreitman’s testimony was meant to buttress the argument that Mr. Tourre was not forthcoming about the true origins of the investment: the hedge fund Paulson & Company, which had assembled a complex security tied to home loans and then wagered that it would fail. The investment firm eventually made $1 billion from its bet, while the other investors in the deal lost money.”

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