US US authorities have launched more than a dozen criminal investigations into possible fraud involving bank bail-out funds, the special inspector-general for the troubled assets relief programme told Congress on Tuesday.
Neil Barofsky – described at a Senate finance committee hearing as the “Tarp cop” – estimated the US had spent or lent almost $3,000bn of taxpayers’ money to aid banks and other companies, which would “inevitably attract those seeking to profit criminally”.
