President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force Adds Six New Member Agencies

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – The President’s Corporate Fraud Task Force has been expanded to include six new agencies to help in the focus on mortgage and securitization fraud cases, Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip, the Task Force Chairman, announced today. The Task Force’s expanded roster includes the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the Office of Thrift Supervision, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The new member agencies represent a continuing focus by the Task Force to crack down on mortgage fraud, particularly with regard to ongoing investigations into securitization fraud. The additions mark the largest expansion of the Task Force since it was formed in July 2002. “The Task Force is uniquely suited to providing the kind of thoughtfulness and collaboration that can be invaluable in tackling mortgage fraud at the corporate level, and in trying to analyze whether and when law enforcement action is appropriate,” said Deputy Attorney General Filip. “These new members reflect the breadth and depth of the mortgage crisis that we are now confronting, and the urgency of the task before us.” In addition to remarks by the Deputy Attorney General, the Task Force was briefed today by representatives from several of the regulatory agencies on their efforts to tackle mortgage fraud and heard from the Special Inspector General of the newly formed TARP. The Task Force’s current members include the Assistant Attorneys General for the J”