House Approves Final Passage of Fraud Bill

The House approved final passage of the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, which will increase the resources of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies to pursue mortgage fraud cases and other white collar crimes. The bill (S. 386) also expands the federal bank fraud and false claims statutes to cover independent mortgage companies and mortgage brokers. Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said the bill will "rebuild" the nation's fraud enforcement capacity and authorizes $245 million over the next two years to hire more than 300 federal agents, 200 prosecutors and 200 forensic experts and support staff. He noted the FBI currently has fewer than 250 special agents assigned to financial fraud cases, which is only a quarter of the agents the FBI had at the time of the savings and loan crisis. "We need to restore our capacity to fight fraud in these hard economics times and this bill will do that," Sen. Leahy said. The fraud enforcement bill, which President Obama is expected to sign, also creates an independent commission appointed by Congress to investigate the causes of the current financial crisis.