Well, well, Spud fell in the well---Our Gang-Wheezer, 1931

Crooks and Liars, all of them:

Federal authorities announced Thursday that more than 400 real estate industry players have been indicted since March — including dozens over the past two days — in nationwide crackdown on mortgage fraud that has contributed to the country’s housing crisis. The FBI put the losses to homeowners and other borrowers who were victims in the schemes at over $1 billion.

Meanwhile, over at Bear Stearns.

Matthew Tannin and Ralph Cioffi, formerly senior managers of two hedge funds run by Bear Stearns that failed last year, already have been taken into custody.

The charges against two will be announced during a press conference this afternoon in Brooklyn involving the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York, the New York division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

I watched it happen with my own eyes. Buying a mortgage is a very complicated thing for everyone, more so for a first timer and as we've learned----many, many people were manipulated and lied to. And to all those free marketers---we need regulations.