Several months ago, I posted on the government’s lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s. See the post for details. In brief: S&P was singled out for punishment over some of their actions back during the housing bubble.
Why were they singled out? Many have speculated that it was because in August 2011, S&P downgraded U.S. government bonds, touching off a political firestorm and raising the ire of the government, including the Obama administration.
It seems that S&P agrees:
Standard & Poor’s said on Tuesday the U.S. government filed a $5 billion fraud lawsuit against it in “retaliation” for its 2011 decision to strip the country of its “AAA” credit rating…[S&P] was the only major credit rating agency to take away the United States’ top rating, and the only one sued by the U.S. Department of Justice…
It said the government’s “impermissibly selective, punitive and meritless” lawsuit was brought “in retaliation for defendants’ exercise of their free speech rights with respect to the creditworthiness of the United States of America.”…
Good for them! Via Zero Hedge.