Reply #6: It's easier to win a civil suit than a criminal trial

[meow2u3]

In this financial climate, where the banks and other fat cats have more money than the government, it's easier to pursue civil fraud. The burden of proof is preponderence of evidence for a civil case and proof beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal cases, the civil charges are more likely to stick than the criminal charges.

Those banks have so much money that they can hire powerful lawyers capable of easily razzle-dazzling juries that they'd con them into acquitting them. The government must be hedging their bets on a jury awarding them a much larger sum of money from a judgment than a criminal fine.