THIS SHOULD LEAD TO SOME "CONSCIOUSNESS RAISING"

The fact that the MOTU have shelled out close to $1 BIllion in fines and penalties to the SEC for mortgage securities fraud should dampen the Big Conservative Lie that the CRA, Fannie and Freddie were responsible for the Big Shitpile.

Big banks paying major bucks to settle fraud charges — so where does the money go?
By Zachary Roth | The Lookout – 5 hrs ago
YAHOO NEWS

Major Wall Street banks are handing over some hefty sums to settle charges that they misled investors about those exotic mortgage deals that helped nearly topple the financial system.
Citi is the latest to pay up. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Wednesday that the mega-bank will part with $285 million to settle allegations that it fleeced investors by selling them on a complex mortgage product it was secretly betting against. (In an email uncovered by investigators, one Citi trader described the investment as "dogsh!t.")
Citi isn't alone. In July 2010, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay $550 million to settle SEC accusations that it pulled similar shenanigans with a structured financial product. J.P. Morgan Chase, whose CEO, Jamie Dimon, has complained long and hard about regulatory costs in June, paid $153.6 million, to settle similar SEC charges. In all, the SEC says it has recovered more than $1 billion (pdf) from financial companies over misconduct that occurred in the period leading up to or during the 2008 crisis.