Will Wall Street Settle Legal Battle Of The Decade?

We noted yesterday that N.Y. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has apparently begun a criminal investigation into Wall Street practices relating to the subprime mortgage industry. That’s just one criminal investigation from one prosecutor. Not to mention the pending civil suits, such as the SEC’s action against Goldman Sachs, with more undoubtedly to follow. Who's got troubles? Wall Street's got troubles.

Today’s Times has an interesting article, by Nelson Schwartz and Eric Dash, suggesting that there is talk beginning on the Street about a possible global settlement of civil and criminal claims, much as occurred about a decade ago when the stock research imbroglio settled for $1.4 billion. Any global settlement to avoid what Schwartz and Dash refer to as “the legal battle of a decade for the big names of finance” is likely to be much, much larger. Will that ultimately happen? We think you can bet on it. 
 
Our post on Cuomo’s investigation is at http://www.financialfraudlaw.com/lawblog/cuomo-reportedly-investigating-banks-rating-agencies/1033. You can find our posts on Goldman Sachs by typing that into the search box on this page. The Times article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/14/business/14banks.html?hp=&pagewanted=print.