As the public demands answers about the financial turmoil facing the nation, it was inevitable that law enforcement and prosecutors would head the calls. Kicking off the investigation season is a federal task force, which is
charged with finding out if the leadership of shuttered bank Washington
Mutual Inc. broke federal laws in the run-up to its collapse, the largest in
U.S. history.
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Jeffrey C. Sullivan, U.S. attorney in Seattle, said in a
statement
he has formed a task force with investigators from the Securities and
Exchange Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal
Revenue Service and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s inspector
general.
"I want to assure our community that federal law
enforcement is examining activities at the bank to determine if any
federal laws were violated," Sullivan said in a statement. "Given the
significant losses to investors, employees and our community, it is
fully appropriate that we scrutinize the activities of the bank, its
leaders and others to determine if any federal laws were violated."
Also getting underway is a probe of energy trader SemGroup LP. According to
Tulsa World,
Louis Freeh, former head of the FBI, who has prosecuted organized crime
figures, was named as an examiner to conduct a bankruptcy court
investigation. Freeh's appointment was authorized by the U.S.
Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware on Tuesday.
SemGroup,
the parent of bankrupt SemGroup Energy Partners LP, which filed in July
after it lost $3.2 billion in wrong-way bets on oil prices, its oil
suppliers and main lender Bank of America Corp. have clashed over who
has first-priority claim on the company's assets.
And,
stakeholders in the Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy case are expected to ask
a judge to open an investigation of the failed investment bank at a
hearing in Manhattan Thursday.
The
Associated Press
reports: "A number of investment funds using the Harbinger name -- which
said they are owed more than $250 million -- have asked for the right to
depose Lehman's chief financial officer Ian Lowitt and examine internal
documents for details about any assets transferred in the month before
Lehman filed for bankruptcy." -
Donna Block
