Operation Choke: Update-10 Civil & Criminal Investigations Launched
Published: Thu, 05/29/14
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The U.S. Department of Justice has opened at least 10 civil and
criminal investigations into whether banks and payment processing
firms helped enable fraudulent activity, according to an internal
Justice Department memo viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
More than 850 pages of internal documents on the DOJ's probe of
alleged fraud in the financial industry were obtained by the House
Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
The panel has been conducting an inquiry into the federal probe
known as "Operation Choke Point," which is aimed at
reducing the ability of fraudulent businesses to operate by going
after financial firms--like banks and payment processors--that help
move their money.
The memos viewed by the Journal detail last year's launch of
the sweeping probe, which resulted in the government issuing
subpoenas to about 50 banks and six payment processing firms,
according to a November 2013 memo by DOJ official Maame
Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong.
Ms. Frimpong, in her memo, wrote that the government had the opened
civil investigations into 10 banks and payment processors and was
in settlement talks with three of them.
The DOJ has also opened criminal investigations of four
payment-processing firms as well as one criminal investigation of a
bank "and responsible bank officials."
The names of affected banks were...
READ MORE at WSJ: http://on.wsj.com/1nHz5Fd
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