“Like many other collateralized debt obligations, Delphinus CDO 2007-1 got a triple-A rating and then defaulted within months, causing painful losses to investors.

“Who is responsible for the mess?

“Last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission blamed Mizuho Financial Group Inc., and the Japanese bank paid $127.5 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the U.S. agency.

“The U.S. Justice Department sees things differently. The Delphinus deal, which means “dolphin” in Latin and is the name of a small constellation in the Northern Hemisphere, was one of more than 30 CDOs included in the federal government’s lawsuit against Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services last week.”

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