New Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group Hopes to Restore America's Trust in Financial Sector

Here is more information on the joint state-federal mortgage abuse investigation unit announced by President Obama in the State of the Union address, from New York AG's website:

The new Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group ...brings together the Department of Justice (DOJ), several state law enforcement officials – led by Attorney General Schneiderman - and other federal entities to investigate those responsible for misconduct contributing to the financial crisis through the pooling and sale of residential mortgage-backed securities. It builds upon ongoing state and federal investigations, while also launching new ones.

The goals of this joint investigation will be to:

Hold accountable any institutions that violated the law;
Compensate victims and help provide relief for homeowners struggling from the collapse of the housing market, caused in part by this wrongdoing; and
To help us finally turn the page on this destructive period in our nation’s history.

...the new working group will include 55 Department of Justice attorneys, analysts, agents and investigators. As it begins its work, 15 attorneys – civil and criminal – and 10 FBI agents and analysts will be initially assigned to the working group. An additional 30 attorneys, investigators and other staff from U.S. Attorney’s Offices around the country will join the working group’s efforts, in addition to existing state and federal investigations into similar misconduct under those authorities.