Milan lost an estimated $100 million in a complex interest rate swap deal that it made with four banks in the run-up to the financial crisis. But the city fought back, becoming among the first municipalities to file criminal fraud charges against the banks under an Italian law that lets prosecutors file quasi-criminal charges against companies and their managers.

Will the inflammatory allegations spur big investors who bought ill-fated CDOs to take action against Goldman and others?

Within days of announcing big settlements with JPMorgan and Credit Suisse, the SEC was forced to abandon its case against Edward Steffelin, and then lost a bid to salvage part of its case against ex-Goldman Sachs bond trader Fabrice Tourre over the notorious ABACUS CDO.

Aluminum giant Alcoa has had enough of waiting to defend itself against sensational bribery claims by a Bahraini rival while the DOJ and SEC build their own cases against the company. On Thursday Cravath's Evan Chesler travelled to Pittsburgh to make Alcoa's case for lifting a three-year-old stay in the civil suit so that it can seek dismissal, but federal prosecutors countered that allowing the case to proceed could threaten the government's investigation.