Are you talking about abs ?
Noone had to - they were tripple A rated and by all rights and laws of the US called americas finest investments.
It was not a hold up - you are right.
it was fraud.
Yeah, there should be no risks involved in investments.
They are AAA rated, therefore they cannot go down in value.
Oh wait, that would be socialism.
Maybe that is why the Europeans were confused. They don’t know what risk is.