Investment Banks are Paying Legal Fees with OUR MONEY!

By Robert Weiss

The subprime mortgage crisis has had disastrous effects on our economy. Americans have lost their homes, businesses, jobs, savings and retirement money and it does not appear that financial conditions will improve anytime in the near future. Many were involved with the events leading to our financial meltdown, but it was the Wall Street investment banks that played the most prominent role. The investment banks have committed numerous fraudulent and unscrupulous acts, such as pressuring the subprime lenders to lower their credit standards, packaging the mortgages into securities with knowledge of the default risks, withholding information regarding risks from investors and credit rating agencies, and controlling the credit ratings of their securities - all to increase their revenues and insure bigger bonuses for their executives. And now, rather than seeking expiation for their abhorrent actions and a reasonable settlement to rectify their wrongs, the investment banks are hiring large overpriced law firms in an attempt to escape liability. [more...]