It took more than a decade, but in mid-January, the Justice Department accepted settlement of an $864 million suit brought against Moody’s, an iconic bond-rating service, for illegal activities involving the 2008 credit meltdown. Most of us associate the firm’s name with labels like AAA ratings found on corporate and government bonds. A $1.5 billion settlement had been struck earlier with Standard & Poor’s for similar charges, another major rating service. Fitch Ratings, a third rating service, was not the subject of a suit.

Moody’s and S&P had fallen from grace. They were found to have misled investors worldwide, and in doing so laid stepping stones in the path that led to the credit market meltdown and Great Recession that followed. It took 10 years to get the settlement, but they had to pay.