New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo generated large headlines with his move to charge former CEO Ken Lewis and current head of consumer and small business banking Joe Price with fraud. TheStreet.com weighs in with a skeptical look at the case. This would hardly appear to be a slam dunk.

Lewis' attorney, the toughened former prosecutor Mary Jo White, issued a statement that said Cuomo's case was "based on the very same evidence" as the SEC's. "After the lashing it received from Judge Jed Rakoff for not naming those responsible for alleged misconduct, if there were evidence against an individual, it seems likely the SEC would have used it."

That's true enough. It's hard to imagine Cuomo has any unique smoking gun-like evidence. Some think that Cuomo wants a high-profile settlement. But maybe he wants the opposite. Maybe he wants a trial that will bring in a host of big name regulators to talk about their role in either encouraging the bank to stay quiet or not. It could continue to be a tough PR phase for lots of people. The bank would have to argue that it did what it did because of regulatory pressure. 

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