Should we expect perp walks of big-name Wall Street executives any time soon? Not according to CNNMoney, which says the chances of a major criminal prosecution of a big-name executive seems to be declining with every passing day.

Indeed, the government just dropped a criminal inquiry into AIG (NYSE: AIG). And it seems as if any action against Lehman Brothers (Lehman Brothers news) and then CEO Dick Fuld (Richard Fuld news) would have happened by now. Many considered Fuld the most likely to be criminally charged.

We should not understand the ripple effect of the ill-fated charges against Ralph Cioffi and Mathew Tannin, which ended in an acquittal. And we still aren't exactly sure what will come of the criminal probes in the CDO (CDO news) sales and trading activity of Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) and other top firms.

My guess is that we will not see any major charges against individuals. But the industry will probably face some sort of behavior-altering "global" settlement.

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