We knew we'd see some heads roll in the aftermath of the auction rate securities mess, but we never imagined it would play out quite like this.

Two former brokers for Credit Suisse in New York have been indicted by the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn on fraud and conspiracy charges in connection with the sale of auction rate securities to their corporate clients. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed civil charges against the two.

Like in so many broker fraud cases, greed is at the center of this one. According to the S.E.C.'s complaint, Julian Tzolov and Eric Butler made more than $1 billion of unauthorized purchases of the securities in their corporate client accounts over a two-and-a-half-year period. Auction rate securities are long-term bonds backed by loans that reset at auctions every week or month.

The pair allegedly bought bonds backed by debt such as subprime mortgages, collateralized debt obligations, and mobile-home contracts. The complaint says the brokers would then pass off the securities as bonds backed by federally guaranteed student loans, which their customers had authorized them to buy on their behalf.

Not surprisingly, the riskier stuff paid higher commissions. It seems that Tzolov and Butler were as blind as so many unwitting investors left holding A.R.S. in their accounts when the auctions began failing during this middle of this credit crisis. They, too, evidently believed the securities were liquid and would continue to sell at their designated auctions indefinitely and their scam would go unnoticed.

To cover up their fraud, according to the complaint, the brokers would change the names of the securities in email confirmation to their customers. "Greenpoint Credit LLC," which was backed by loans on mobile homes, became "Greenpoint Student Assistance." "Glacier Funding C.D.O. I Ltd." became "Glacier Education Loan" securities in the trade confirmation.

According to the complaint, the brokers bought more than $1 billion worth of this stuff and sent over 50 emails to customers with misleading information about their holdings.

This all came to a screeching halt last August, when the auctions for subprime-backed A.R.S. began to fail, and their customers were left unable to sell the bonds, which were quickly losing value. According to a Credit Suisse spokesman, the two brokers resigned in September 2007 "after we detected their prohibited activity and promptly suspended them."

Of course, the rest of the A.R.S. market froze up soon after, and by February of this year virtually no one was willing to buy the bonds at auction. Investigators swept in, damaging emails were unearthed, and most Wall Street banks agreed to fork over billions of dollars to the individual investors they sold them to.

But if there's truth to the complaint, Tzolov and Butler are just two more examples of the classic, crooked broker willing to risk crushing his customers in exchange for a higher commission.