Crimes suspected in 20 bailout cases -- for starters

Crimes suspected in 20 bailout cases -- for starters

www.latimes.com

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles -- In the first major disclosure of corruption in the $750-billion financial bailout program, federal investigators said Monday they have opened 20 criminal probes into possible securities fraud, tax violations, insider trading and other crimes.

The cases represent only the first wave of investigations, and the total fraud could ultimately reach into the tens of billions of dollars, according to Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general overseeing the bailout program.

The disclosures reinforce fears that the hastily designed and rapidly changing bailout program run by the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve is going to carry a heavy price of fraud against taxpayers -- even as questions grow about its ability to stabilize the nation's financial system.

Barofsky said the complex nature of the bailout program makes it "inherently vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse, including significant issues relating to conflicts of interest facing fund managers, collusion between participants, and vulnerabilities to money laundering."

The report said little about who is under investigation and how the fraudulent schemes work, but investigators are already on alert for a long list of potential scams. Such schemes could include obtaining bailout money under false pretenses, bilking the government with phony mortgage modifications, and cheating on taxes with fraudulent filings.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 21-4-2009 by grover]

Well its about time.

They should have looked into fraud and corruption before they started TARP last year but noooo... bush minor was in a hurry to give away the house to his owners before he left office so he snowballed congress into passing the bill without any serious oversight by playing chicken little and wailing that the whole economy would collapse over night if they didn't do anything... And while I like him so far for the most part, my biggest beef with Obama so far is that when it comes to the banks his policies have barely changed.

The very fact that these instuitions got themselves into the mess that they are in should make them suspect for at the very least gross incompetance if not out and out corruption and fraud.

Heads really need to roll in this whole affair.

www.latimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)