Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) have introduced legislation to strengthen the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) financial crime investigation unit by hiring 1,000 new agents dedicated to white-collar crimes. The “FBI Priorities Act”, which authorizes $150 million in each of the next five years for the expansion, mirrors the steps taken by the FBI following the September 11th terrorist attacks in which approximately 1,000 agents were re-directed to counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence activities.
“The public’s outrage against the rampant greed and corruption of Wall Street that caused the global economic meltdown certainly warrants an aggressive and wide-reaching investigation by the FBI,” Senator Snowe said. “We must ensure that these culprits are brought to justice and ensure that hardworking American’s pocketbooks and pensions will never be vulnerable to such market and lending abuse again.”
“Mortgage fraud and white collar crime have likely cost many thousands of Americans their homes, and we deserve to see those crimes investigated and prosecuted fully,” said Whitehouse, a former U.S. Attorney and Attorney General for Rhode Island. “We need to make sure the FBI has sufficient resources to do that.”
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