We've got the jury in place, and the opening statements have been heard. So we can now prepare for the nitty gritty. Fortune notes that the prosecution so far has opted to keep its case simple. Assistant U.S. attorney Patrick Sinclair said the case is about the alleged lies Ralph Cioffi and Mathew Tannin told investors in the three months before the June 2007 collapse of two high-profile Bear Stearns hedge funds.

Cioffi's attorney, Dane Butswinkas of Williams & Connolly, by contrast has taken another tack. "During the first half of a nearly two-hour presentation, Butswinkas told jurors that the trial would become 'tedious' and then promptly made good on the prediction. Temporarily ignoring all the prosecutors' blistering accusations concerning his client, the lawyer launched instead into a dry tutorial on collateralized debt obligations." This may be a good strategy, to reduce it all to technical issues that in a sense reduce the "Wow" factor of the crimes. 

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