Following news that the Securities and Exchange Commission was charging investment bank Goldman Sachs with fraud related to subprime mortgages, oil prices plunged to their lowest level this month on Friday
, according to reports by the Wall Street Journal. The news sent commodity and stock prices down, as worried investors ditched risky assets.

Crude oil was down 2.7 percent Friday, trading at $83.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at the close of trading. This is the lowest oil has settled since March 30, the Journal says.

The SEC said Goldman Sachs was misleading investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a collateralized debt obligation tied to subprime mortgages. Specifically, the firm failed to tell investors that a major hedge fund played a role in the portfolio selection, and that the hedge fund had shorted the CDO.

While oil settled $84.34 a barrel last Monday, investors are afraid oil won't stay in the mid-$80s for long, with crude inventories higher than normal, the Journal says. This concern sent oil prices down early Friday morning, prior to the Goldman announcement.