Mukasey Declines to Create a U.S. Task Force to Investigate Mortgage Fraud

New York Times (06/06/08) P. C4; Lichtblau, Eric
U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey agreed that the mortgage fraud crisis is a serious problem but said it does not warrant the creation of a national task force to address the issue, similar to the panel that was established to investigate the Enron debacle in 2002. In a June 5 briefing for reporters, Mukasey said the mortgage fraud problem is more of a localized issue like white-collar street crime and that he supports the approach the Justice Department has taken. Mukasey's comments disappointed critics such as Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who said, "Enron didn't cause a worldwide recession. This has more innocent victims;" and Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., who added that the Bush administration "vastly underestimates the scope of this problem." The FBI has launched 19 major investigations into corporate fraud related to the mortgage crisis, in addition to 1,380 small mortgage fraud cases.