The central issue in the dispute between Mr. Morgenthau and Mr. Bloomberg appears to be an escalating conflict that began with a disagreement over how money the district attorney's office obtained in a major financial settlement would be divided between the city and the state.
South Carolina State, with the latest efforts by state legislators to close the school, may have the best case of all for a major financial settlement or development agreement forced by a judge, or to be brokered in mediation.
Enter Ripple -- which is being used by major financial institutions as settlement infrastructure technology -- particularly in the areas of payments and foreign exchange.
The DoJ more usually reaches settlements with major financial firms over its investigations and has done so in relation to RMBS with a number of US banks, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Citi.
Clayton, one of the most powerful attorneys on Wall Street, had worked on everything from the sale of the Atlanta Hawks to Goldman Sachs' bailout to mortgage fraud settlements with several major financial institutions.
"Like all other major financial institutions, Citi has entered into various settlements with the S.E.C. over the years and there is no basis for any assertion that Citi has violated the terms of any of those settlements," he said.
With all that –and quite possibly more –in the mix, nuances in the wording of a complicated settlement agreement can have major financial implications down the road.
Larry Mayewski, a senior vice president at A. M. Best, the insurance rating agency, said the settlement would not have a major financial effect on American General, which has assets of about $110 billion, making it the nation's fourth-largest life insurer.
For eight years after the financial crisis, a Democratic administration refused to prosecute top traders and executives at major financial institutions ― even as the administration piled up settlements with big banks for breathtaking misconduct.
But even large financial settlements are small compared with the size of international major banks.
