[rayiner]

First, that's not the defense. The defense is that the 2007-2009 recession was a "black swan" event resulting from a confluence of factors that nobody expected. To date, I'm not aware of any economic work that points, with 95%+ certainty, to a specific cause of the recession.

Second, a successful prosecution requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt that a specific person performed each element of specific crimes. Defendants do not need to even present a defense--and in fact sometimes do not, relying entirely on poking holes in the government's case.