when the credit market seized up as companies struggled to accurately value their holdings of mortgage backed securities and credit default swaps the oddball esoteric debt was considered too complex to even bother with so while there was a slow and painful process that eventually led to the troubled mbs being priced and then moved the market for esoteric debt froze entirely without accurate pricing information there were few buyers to help investors move esoteric debt off their balance sheets this took down the auction rate securities market which was once perceived as being slightly more risky than the money market the sec stepped in on that particular file to force settlements over improper disclosure of risk but not all forms of esoteric debt received the same treatment 
interestingly enough esoteric debt began reappearing shortly after the financial crisis transitioned to the great recession starved for yield investors were once again willing to take on complexity and liquidity risk for a better return while these complicated instruments may be more attractive than plain vanilla debt in good times they can present immense problems when the credit markets tighten 