The recent economic crisis that has shaken America to the core has only put forth the many underlying problems major US institutions are confronted with. Last month, prior to the crisis, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) announced that it had filed a major lawsuit against American financial brand names such as Morgan Stanley, the Bank of New York Mellon and ratings agencies Moody’s and S&P. The lawsuit, which was filed at the US district court in Manhattan, targeted Cheyne Structured Investment Vehicle (SIV), a complex financial structure previously highly rated. The statement provided by ADCB said that the legal action alleges, amongst other things, that “ADCB was misled about the quality of the underlying mortgages in which the Cheyne SIV would invest.” In spite of the fact that the Cheyne Finance fund had been selling investments and had enough cash to repay commercial paper due through November, Standard & Poor’s
