Justice nominee calls for financial crime funds
Thu Feb 5, 2009 7:18pm GMT
By James Vicini
uk.reuters.com
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's nominee for deputy attorney general said on Thursday the Justice Department needs more resources to pursue financial crimes after a shift this decade to fighting terrorism
"It is imperative that the resources be available to address those issues," Washington lawyer David Ogden said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to consider his nomination.
Ogden was responding to a question from Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat from Vermont, who has pushed for more curbs against financial crimes amid the economic crisis.
Leahy proposed legislation on Thursday to hire more federal investigators and prosecutors dedicated to fraud cases, and to expand laws against financial, mortgage and securities fraud.
Ogden agreed with Leahy that the FBI and U.S. attorney offices around the country, both of which are part of the Justice Department, have shifted resources to fighting terrorism since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Ogden, a top Justice Department official during the Clinton administration, said ways had to be found to both protect the country against terrorist attack while also going after corporate and street crime and protecting civil rights.
Democratic Senator Ted Kaufman of Delaware cited growing public anger over allegations of Wall Street excesses and wrongdoing that led to the financial crisis.
"If crimes were committed ... there needs to be an appropriate, strong law enforcement response," Ogden said. "Serving jail time may well be an appropriate result and it could be a deterrent in the future."
The FBI has been investigating a number of companies at the center of the current financial crisis, but has yet to bring any high-profile cases against companies or top executives.
Leahy's legislation, co-sponsored by Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa, would extend laws governing fraud at financial institutions to include mortgage lenders, expand the main federal fraud law to cover money handed out under the federal bank bailout and economic stimulus package, and added commodities futures and options to the instruments covered by U.S. securities laws.
Leahy has scheduled a committee hearing on financial fraud for next Wednesday.
Attorney General Eric Holder said on Tuesday, his first day on the job, that the Justice Department would prosecute Wall Street fraud and misconduct but was not planning any "witch hunts."
(Additional reporting by Randall Mikkelsen, editing by David Wiessler)
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. |
