The U. S. Justice Department's lawsuit seeking $5 billion from Standard & Poor's Ratings service (S&P) for allegedly defrauding investors is being seen as a "revenge" for the 2011 downgrade of the country's bond rating by the ratings agency.

The Justice Department wants S&P to pay more than $5 billion, equivalent to the amount that the agency has earned in the last seven years by approving subprime mortgages that eventually crumbled and led to the financial crisis.

Floyd Abrams, the lead attorney for S&P, said that the intensity of the investigation was significantly increased following the downgrade in the country's bond rating by the agency.

The ratings agency had downgraded the country's AAA bond rating in August 2011 due to the standoff in Congress over the widening fiscal deficit. However, the downgrade had not scared investors off, as the government continued borrowing at all-time low interest rates.

S&P was not the only agency to give its seal of approval to subprime mortgages. Its competitors, Fitch and Moody's, also did the same. But, the government is suing only S&P.

Arguing against the Justice department's decision, Abrams said, "To make a claim against S&P of this sort when what they did was so consistent with not just what Moody's and Fitch did. is simply indefensible."

However, Attorney General Eric Holder claimed that that there was no link between the DOJ's investigation of S&P and the ratings downgrade by the agency. He pointed out that the investigation was launched in 2009, while the downgrade was made in 2011.