Bankers: The Real House Thieves of New Jersey

Among the investors defrauded in this manner were pension funds -- like those which stand accused of "bankrupting" Detroit and other cities.

And the city of Philadelphia just sued a number of banks, including Chase, citing fraudulent misreporting of "LIBOR" rates which might have cost the city $100 million or more. The total cost of LIBOR fraud is difficult to calculate, but the Inspector General for the Federal Housing Finance Agency estimates that it cost government home lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more than $3 billion. That cost is now being borne by the American taxpayer.

A quick reminder about those indictment statistics:

Real Housewives of New Jersey stars: 2.
Wall Street bankers: 0.

Here Comes the Bride Defendant

Nobody's suggesting that borrowers who commit fraud shouldn't be punished. Of course they should. But this indictment follows the cynical pattern laid down by Holder and his team, which goes as far back as Holder's phony "task force" operation of 2010 -- something that was cynically called "Blind Trust." (Or were they trying to tell us something? There's more at the Columbia Journalism Review.)

The beat goes on. The President proclaims his support for immigration reform, but his Justice Department has been far more aggressive in its pursuit of undocumented immigrants than of the bankers who wrecked the economy. Now we can add "illegal Real Housewives" to the list of targets the DoJ considers worth pursuing.

I'm told that "Real Housewives of New Jersey" was a very successful show. The Guidices are apparently big stars, really big stars. But unlike JPMorgan Chase and other Wall Street banks, they're not too big to fail.

Meanwhile the revelations of Wall Street criminality just keep coming. At this rate they'll need more celebrity indictments, and soon, to distract us from the people they're not  indicting. Tastemakers seem to have moved from the wholesome Martha Stewart type toward the kind of high-profile wives or mothers who inspire either jealousy, judgement, or a slight sexual frisson.

Watch your back, Kim Kardashian -- and whatever you do, don't publish a cookbook.