A task force created by the Obama administration to crack down on residential mortgage-backed securities misconduct recently went live with a ""new website"":http://www.stopfraud.gov/rmbs.html for whistleblowers.
[IMAGE]The ""Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) Working Group"":http://www.stopfraud.gov/iso/opa/stopfraud/2012/index.html established the online portal for those willing to air grievances about misconduct in the packaging and sale of mortgages into securities at financial institutions.
""The RMBS website is a new call to those insiders who know about fraud that occurred in the RMBS market, who know it's time to expose that fraud, and who want to help us hold accountable those individuals and institutions who broke the law in pursuit of bigger paydays,"" Acting Associate Attorney General ""Tony West"":http://www.justice.gov/asg/ said in a statement.
[COLUMN_BREAK]""Although the working group and its members have done a tremendous amount of investigative work already ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô including having issued more than 25 civil subpoenas ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô we know that hearing from insiders is particularly valuable,"" he added.
""There are scores of people who worked in the RMBS market who acted responsibly but who also may have witnessed greed and misconduct that crossed the legal line and created havoc for investors, homeowners and our economy. We want to hear from them.""
The Justice Department launched the RMBS Working Group earlier this year with the aim to look into allegations of widespread misconduct in the lead-up to the financial crisis. This includes finding evidentiary connections between existing cases across the United States.
""The working group's approach to RMBS investigations is systematic and smart ├â┬ó├óÔÇÜ┬¼├óÔé¼┼ô cross-agency teams comprised of experienced prosecutors and investigators utilizing market experts and risk-based criteria to triage transactions for review, and bringing to bear the entire palette range of state and federal legal theories and remedies,"" co-chair and ""Securities and Exchange Commission"":http://www.sec.gov/ (SEC) enforcement director Robert Khuzami said in the statement.
Other participating agencies include the ""FBI"":http://www.fbi.gov/, ""HUD"":http://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD, SEC, office of the New York state attorney general, and the office of inspector general at the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov/.