A jury of mostly working-class Americans dealt the government a stinging blow Tuesday, acquitting two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers of fraud charges and proving that while popular anger still prevails, pinning the blame for the financial crisis on any one person will be difficult.

The fund managers had been accused of lying to investors about the performance of their funds, which were plummeting in value, by presenting an upbeat financial picture and by not disclosing that Cioffi had already pulled money out of one of them. The two funds collapsed in June 2007 under the weight of collateralized debt obligations chock full of disintegrating subprime mortgage loans.

The Washington Post reports:

Prosecutors claimed Cioffi and Tannin were telling investors that their money was safe while privately deriding the investments. But defense lawyers argued that prosecutors took e-mails out of context and Cioffi and Tannin were truthful in their discussions with investors.

More here.

The White Collar Crime Blog says:

Clearly honesty in the market is important. But one also has to wonder if the use of criminal charges is appropriate in cases that would not have occurred but for the poor economy. It is also a concern that the government is using overly broad statutes to criminalize an alleged lack of honesty.

U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell (EDNY) issued this press release after the verdict.

Of course, we are disappointed by the outcome in this case, but the jurors have spoken, and we accept their verdict. Honesty and integrity are the principles upon which our financial markets function. Enforcing and protecting those principles will continue to be one of the principal efforts of this Office.

It goes on to thank the agencies that worked on the case -- and to congratulate its prosecutors for the "extraordinary" job they did investigating and prosecuting the case. Kind of odd, no?