When the trial of Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin, who managed two ill-fated Bear Stearns hedge funds, gets started on Tuesday, JPMorgan (JPM) will be among the keenest observers. When it bought Bear, it also bought the liability for Cioffi and Tannin, who stand accused of fraud related to the state of two ailing hedge funds they controlled. 

Investors were out in excess of $1 billion when the funds were finally liquidated in July 2007. Fortune makes clear that JPMorgan has no direct financial stake in the outcome. But there are a lot of hungry plaintiff's lawyers who have filed civil suits, and they are salivating over what might happen. They are looking for anything to bolster their case.

This will likely be one the few high-profile trials to take place over events that sparked or resulted from the credit crunch. It will be hard for the media not to portray it as a symbol. We'll see what happens and, of course, the SEC still intends to take Bank of America (BAC) to court. 

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