Plan of Action, Little Details

March 13, 2009


As state governments and law enforcement ramp up to begin mass prosecutions of those who have committed mortgage fraud and other financial crimes, officials at the national level are still hammering out the details.

More money has been budgeted for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to add agents and it appears the Obama administration is concentrating on stabilizing the banking industry. States are forming task forces with the help of federal law enforcement, and the Justice Department has said that it would be a top priority for the department to hold executives accountable for their fraudulent activity.

The chairman of the House Financial Services Committee announced a hearing scheduled for March 20 to discuss future enforcement plans with Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., bank regulators and leaders of the Securities Exchange Commission.

Prosecutors will have to prove that executives knew what they were doing was illegal. Critics say that it might be tough to show intent when the "herdlike behavior" by some bankers would suggest that they were just competing with one another, rather than committing a crime. Interesting theory.

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