Bear Stearns Email Refers to Bonds as 'Sack of S***'

Today's newly filed lawsuit accuses Bear Stearns—now owned by JPMorgan Chase—of knowingly pushing rotten mortgage securities onto investors before the financial meltdown. And how might federal prosecutors go about proving it? It won't hurt that they've got Bear Stearns emails referring to one deal as a "sack of shit" and a "shit breather," reports the Huffington Post. Another shows an exec anxious to "close this dog," and yet another shows that Bear Stearns knew most of the loans it was buying and reselling were more than 30 days' delinquent.

"Every now and then, a lawsuit or legislative report emerges to remind us just how out-of-control the US mortgage business was in the years leading up to the financial crisis," writes Patrick Clark at the Observer. And as the Wall Street Journal points out, if this case proves successful, it could be the first of many that seek to hold big banks accountable—brought by private investors as well as the government.