NYT Says Fines Imposed on Banks After the Subprime Perps Left Make Justice Department a Tough Enforcer

Knowingly issuing a fraudulent mortgage (e.g. a mortgage based on false information) is fraud. It is the sort of thing that you can go to jail for, especially when it is done on a mass scale, as was the case in the financial crisis. Knowingly passing along fraudulent mortgages in mortgage backed securities is also fraud.

No important figure at any major bank was prosecuted for these activities by the Justice Department. As a result, virtually all of them benefited from their actions in the ho...