The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday against investors who sue businesses that help manipulate stock prices of publicly traded companies. The 5-3 decision gave a measure of protection from securities lawsuits to some criminals involved in securities conspiracies including suppliers, banks, accountants and law firms that do business with corporations engaging in securities fraud.

This ruling does not come as a surprise to me as I’ve seen a trend of protecting criminals from prosecution for some time now. Recently, I learned that banks protect the identity of money launderers and others defrauding consumers in banking transactions. Intrust Bank in Wichita, KS, for example, cited privacy laws as their reason for not disclosing numerous fraudulent payments made to suspected terrorist organizations.