HSBC too big for jail

So they pay a $1.9 billion fine instead.

This is the "punishment" for having trillions of shady dollars ebb in and out of HSBC accounts over several years, dollars sourced in countries under sanction or embargo and dollars sourced in the Mexican and Colombian drugs trade.

It's obviously nothing more than a slap on the wrist. Note that the HSBC share price actually rose on the London bourse at the news.

Apparently it was never considered to criminally charge the responsible individuals for their lack of oversight. HSBC is the third largest finance house on the planet, and even though they've been accommodating shady deals out the ying-yang for years, we wouldn't want to unsettle the financial sector by filing charges.

True enough.

Nor would we ever want to unsettle these shitbags by making it plain that they will go to jail for their indiscretions.

Real jail. For a long time.

So carry on big dogs, the party ain't hardly begun! The laws do not apply to you...

You're too big to fail and too big for jail!