[Moonman62]

The banks are alleging the brokerage and the insurance company were in cahoots.

Yep, and the question now is whether it was illegal. It was certainly unethical IMO.

[Southack]

No, it’s not unethical to pay off someone else’s bonds so that there is no loan default. That’s often mere charity; in this case it made business sense, too.

...that large Wall Street players assumed that no one would be so clever is another story altogether.