While Jon Q. Taxpayer would be committing a crime by purposely undervaluing his annual earnings on his tax returns, it appears when a company intentionally misleads investors it’s a lot of harm, but no foul.
http://www.economyincrisis.org/articles/sh...

Will bankers be prosecuted?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/11/bus...

The American public is angry - and rightfully so. Over the past year, they have seen their country’s economy go to hell-in-a-hand basket. As Wall Street executives ran their companies into the ground, taxpayers became responsible for footing the bill to keep Wall Street afloat. In some cases the executives were rewarded with fat bonuses for their obvious malfeasance.

While Jon Q. Taxpayer would be committing a crime by purposely undervaluing his annual earnings on his tax returns, it appears when a company intentionally misleads investors it’s a lot of harm, but no foul.

A U.S. District Court judge wrote in a case brought against mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, that "the federal securities laws do not create liability for poor business judgment or failed operations."

However, the judge did leave the door open for future action against failed companies by stating that "the extraordinary case where a company's essential operations are so at odds with the company's public statements that many statements that would not be actionable in the vast majority of cases" could potentially be the basis of a complaint.