Dorgan on DOJ Financial Fraud Crackdown

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Senator has pushed for action to investigate and prosecute financial fraud

November 17, 2009 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said today’s announcement that the Justice Department will ramp up efforts to crack down on financial fraud “is critical to bring these modern day bank-robbers to justice, necessary to restore confidence in our financial system, and I applaud the Department of Justice for taking this action.”

Dorgan has been pushing for increased investigations and prosecutions of those who wrongly profited from the financial collapse. In January, Dorgan introduced the Taxpayer Protection Act (S. 195), which would, among other things, investigate and prosecute financial fraud that contributed to the collapse of our financial markets.

In March, Senators Dorgan and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder, urging the Justice Department to create an inter-agency Economic Crisis Financial Crimes Task Force dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for causing or contributing to the financial crisis.

In April of this year, the Senate passed a bipartisan, Dorgan-authored provision to help prosecutors combat fraud and recover millions of dollars in criminal restitution and fines.

“The U.S. economy has been under attack. Trillions of dollars have been spent, millions of jobs have been lost, and yet those who wrongly contributed to our economic collapse have largely avoided prosecution,” said Dorgan. “I applaud the Justice Department for their efforts to crack down on financial fraud. I hope this long-term, sustained effort will not only bring those responsible to justice, but also prevent this type of financial wrong-doing from ever happening again.”

Source: Senator Byron Dorgan