• More than seven years after the global financial collapse, regulators and investors are still working through a mile-high pile of lawsuits and other civil actions, and it seems like the fines keep on coming.
• Since the crisis, banks and other institutions have paid more than $150B in fines, settlements and other penalties, according to a tally by FT. That compares with the roughly $700B in profits generated by U.S. banks between 2007 and 2014.
• So where have all the payments gone? The biggest have landed in the Justice Department, which has collected some $50B. Other heavy collectors include the FHFA, Fannie Mae, HUD and the SEC.
• Among the banks paying the biggest amounts, BofA (NYSE:BAC) tops the list – with nearly $58B, followed by JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) ($31.3B), Citigroup (NYSE:C) ($12.8B) and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) ($9.7B).

THE HIDDEN TRUTH

Behind the collapse of the economy in the U.S. and around the world is the massive loss of pension and retirement funds belonging to government employees, union workers and corporate 401k beneficiaries – these were the “investors” in the securitization fraud stemming from the unregulated derivatives.  Hordes of lawsuits have been filed by investors against Wall Street banks, but it’s pretty obvious the money is gone.