With the shift of resources to terrorism, the FBI has fallen far short of its mission in dealing with all types of fraud, including mortgage fraud. This added money could help.
Seattle P-I Senate Democrats, mindful that the FBI lacks resources to adequately address the nation’s mortgage meltdown, are pushing a measure to give the agency $75 million to fight financial industry crime.
The sum, to be considered by the Senate as part of the economic stimulus package, would fund at least 165 new agents pointed toward stopping “mortgage fraud, predatory lending, financial fraud and market manipulation.”
After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bush administration transferred at least 2,400 agents from FBI crime squads to counterterrorism units and did not replace them. The result was a precipitous drop in the number of criminal prosecutions around the country, the Seattle P-I has reported in a two-year investigative series.
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