"That's just the way the industry worked" is no better defense than "I was just following orders..."

• Nearly every client we represent in securities fraud cases based on corporate misconduct related to the subprime crisis asks the same question - Aren't they just going to say that everyone on Wall Street did the same thing?  Our answer is always the same - Maybe.  But that just means there was a whole lot of fraud on Wall Street.  And "a whole lot of fraud" is not an acceptable defense in any jurisdiction (for reference, you may want to call up Henry Blodget and the rest of the pay for play analysts from the IPO boom)

Misconduct by executives and directors at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG, CITI does not excuse misconduct at Bear Stearns or Goldman or JP Morgan.  The everyone was doing it defense doesn't fly in American jurisprudence.