Financed via Special Purpose Entities, mortgages were parceled up in debt packages and securitized entities in which neither originators nor sponsors retained any material long-term stake but paid credit rating agencies to award a nice little ribbon marked AAA. When the packages were unwrapped, most of their contents turned out to consist of pools of toxic assets for which there was no proper due diligence, no evidence of capacity to repay, and little cushion to cope with a market downturn.
抵押贷款通过特殊目的实体（Special Purpose Entities）融资，被打包包进债务包和证券化实体，它们的发起人和主办人除了付钱给信用评级机构以使其授予标着AAA的漂亮丝带之外，和它们没有实质性的长期厉害关系。当这些抵押贷款的面纱被揭开时，它们大部分都是不良资产的事实就会显现出来，这些资产没有尽职调查，没有贷款人有偿还能力的证据，以及几乎没有应对市场低迷的缓冲措施。