Your incredulity aside, they absolutely did say that, or at least they convinced the ratings agencies to say that. That wasn't the lie, though - according to t

Your incredulity aside, they absolutely did say that, or at least they convinced the ratings agencies to say that. That wasn't the lie, though - according to the (horribly broken) models, they were AAA (or whatever rating is in question). The lie was that the package of underlying mortgage bonds was selected solely and independently by a 3rd party who had an interest in putting together a quality instrument, when in fact Paulson played the major role in the selection.