But payment was by results. Fitch, which applied a risk assessment model that generated fewer of the coveted AAA-rated securities, found itself largely cut out of the subprime securitization business.53 As later congressional inquiries revealed, the ratings agency staff at Moody’s and S&P were clearly aware of the monster they were creating. As one ratings expert remarked to another in an e-mail in December 2006: “Let’s hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of cards falters. :o).”54
