The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

1. Checks and Balances at America Online

A big shoutout this week to Time Warner's (TWX Quote) America Online unit, for reminding us how fun -- and how fictional -- the dot-com bubble could be.

We're referring, of course, to Wednesday's announcement of a settlement between Time Warner and the Justice Department -- an agreement that puts some closure on an accounting investigation that has dogged AOL and Time Warner for more than two years.

As part of the settlement, which leads to a penalty and litigation fund totaling $210 million, the Justice Department included a fascinating chronology it calls a Statement of Facts.

This addendum outlines the case against AOL and its executives, and it looks like the backbone of a fraud case that Justice would have pursued in the absence of Wednesday's settlement. That fraud case revolves around AOL's relationship with the now-defunct business-to-business software company PurchasePro, which the feds allege inflated its revenue in 2000 and 2001 with the help of AOL executives. In return for their assistance, says Justice, AOL cut deals that inflated its own advertising revenue. ...