“The complex nature of Libor makes it difficult to determine the effect on individual consumers. But in a measure of the potential broad impact, prosecutors in New York and Connecticut are reportedly examining whether they suffered losses on financial products that states use to manage their debt.

“It’s a level of crime that’s almost hard to believe, even in light of what’s known about the egregious conduct of Wall Street,” said Dennis Kelleher, chief executive of Better Markets Inc., a nonprofit group advocating for financial reform.

“People throughout the United States are thrown in jail for decades for robbing convenience stores or mugging somebody,” he said. “Those crimes pale in comparison to what these people did here.” “

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Read Jim Puzzanghera and Walter Hamilton’s full Los Angeles Times article here.