The Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, Senate Bill 386, has received congressional approval and has been presented to the president for signature. The bill includes provisions that would strengthen the federal False Claims Act. It also seeks to improve enforcement of mortgage fraud, securities and commodities fraud and financial institution fraud.
The House voted 338-52 on May 18 to accept the Senate’s amendments.
Senator Leahy, on introducing the bill, said, “We must reinvigorate our anti-fraud measures and give law enforcement the tools and resources they need to root out fraud so that it can never again place our financial system at risk. Taxpayers, who bear the burden of this financial downturn, deserve to know that government is doing all it can to hold responsible those who committed fraud in the run-up to this collapse. This bill will do just that.”