Former Goldman Sachs CEO Blankfein warns of hidden "fire" risks in the private equity market.

Former CEO of Goldman Sachs Lloyd Blankfein warned investors to be cautious of the accumulating unsold private equity assets on their balance sheets, some of which may be overvalued. Blankfein expressed concerns that a trigger could lead to widespread asset write-downs. "At some point, there will have to be an external force or a moment of reckoning where you have to face the true value of your balance sheet," Blankfein said in a media interview. In his memoir "Streetwise: Getting to and Through Goldman Sachs," published this month, Blankfein warned that the longer it has been since the last crisis, the higher the likelihood of larger-scale defaults. "I like to think of it as flammable material piling up on a forest floor, there will always be a spark," Blankfein said. "However, the longer the interval between sparks, the more flammable material accumulates."