Obama administration targeting financial fraud

The Obama administration has formed a new task force to target financial fraud — replacing an earlier corporate fraud task force. Attorney General Eric Holder says the new group will have a broader scope — and incorporate state investigators as well as federal agencies — to investigate and prosecute financial crimes that worsened the market collapse. The attorney general made the announcement standing with officials from the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The task force replaces one created in 2002 by the Bush administration following the corporate scandals surrounding WorldCom, Enron, Adelphia, and other firms.