Federal investigators are homing in on 19 "large corporations" - including investment banks, credit rating agencies, accounting firms and hedge funds - as part of a broad probe into mortgage fraud.
Robert Mueller, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, did not identify the companies yesterday, but said the majority of the large corporate cases involved accounting fraud, insider trading and failures to disclose - with criminal intent - the proper evaluation of securitised loans and derivatives.
Mr Mueller said the FBI was working closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the justice department to "evaluate criminal intent".
Like the cases of Enron and Worldcom, and the savings and loan scandals of the 1980s, Mr Mueller said the cases were "documentsintensive and complex".
The announcement came as the FBI unveiled "Operation Malicious Mortgage", a crackdown on mortgage fraud cases from March 1 that led to 406 defendants being charged in 144 cases. Separately, in a move that underscored the justice department's focus on both Main Street and Wall Street, prosecutors in New York unsealed indictments against two Bear Stearns portfolio managers for allegedly conspiring to commit fraud in mortgage-related investments.
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Now they've awakened!
