About Me
“ Craig D. Robins, Esq., has been a practicing Long Island bankruptcy attorney for over twenty-four years ”
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.
Yesterday I wrote that the CEO of Long Island-based American Home Mortgage, Michael Strauss, agreed to settle SEC fraud charges and pay a fine of two and a half million dollars (Ex-CEO Of American Home Mortgage Settles SEC Fraud Charges ).
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.
