We are all now living through the Great Financial Fiasco. Most of us are burdened with the consequences of it. A few have profited from it. No-one and no corporation has yet been held accountable for it.
Civil and criminal actions filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission result in pathetic settlements with "banks". The S.E.C. thinks that settlements are as good as Judgments for Damages. See Louise Story, "Investors Scrutinizing JPMorgan's Mortgages" p. B1, col. 6 (New York Times Nat'l ed., "Business Day" Section, Saturday, December 17, 2011). The rest of the Federal "enforcement" departments think so too.
There is no known record of criminal enforcement actions against major profiteers after the Great Fiasco. Recoveries have all been greater in civil lawsuits filed by private investors than in civil enforcement actions filed by the Government. See, in addition, Louise Story & Gretchen Morgenson, "A.I.G. Sues Bank of America Over Mortgage Bonds" (New York Times Online, August 8, 2011).
If fault is going to be assessed for the Great Financial Fiasco, it may have to be assessed in privately-filed, individual civil lawsuits and class actions.
Those lawsuits may in turn trigger Directors' and Officers' Coverage actions. The end result may be finding out who was at fault for the Fiasco which you and I did not make.
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