There has been plenty of blame to go around for the financial crisis and the scandals it exposed. Most of this has bespattered the bankers, but some have also adhered to their perceived accomplices, including the auditors who signed off on accounts that were quickly exposed as fraudulent.
Last week, a Florida jury started hearing evidence in the latest of these cases: a lawsuit brought by the trustee of a failed US mortgage lender,
Taylor, Bean & Whitaker, against PwC. The plaintiff is seeking $5.5bn in damages from the global accounting firm for failing to detect a massive fraud perpetrated by TBW’s own executives in cahoots with another lender, Colonial Bank, which collapsed in 2009.