Posted on Wednesday (April 29, 2009) at 6:00 am to Mortgages & Sub-Prime Mortgage Meltdown
Written by Craig D. Robins, Esq.
Yesterday the Senate passed legislation by a vote of 92-4 to give the government more power to prosecute mortgage and financial fraud and create a commission to investigate the causes of the economic crisis.
The bill, S. 386, would make it easier to prosecute fraud in trading commodities futures, including options and debt derivatives.
The federal anti-fraud law would be extended to cover private mortgage brokers, which generate almost half of this country’s home mortgages.
The measure would add 160 FBI agents, 200 prosecutors and Justice Department lawyers and 200 agents at the Secret Service, Postal Inspection Service and Department of Housing and Urban Development. The SEC would also receive funds to set up a nationwide database to track tips and trading patterns that might help detect fraud.
The proposed law will now be sent to the House of Representatives.