Holder rolls out mortgage investigation unit

The Justice Department officially unveiled a new unit devoted to investigating criminal behavior in the housing market Friday.

President Obama announced he was forming the new team during Tuesday's State of the Union address, which will focus specifically on the lending of risky mortgages and how those mortgages were packaged and sold to investors leading up to the financial crisis.

"This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners, and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans," he told lawmakers.

The team is part of a task force charged with examining financial crimes, and will be staffed by officials from the Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and state attorneys general.

“This Working Group brings together federal and state partners to strengthen current and future efforts to investigate and prosecute instances of wrongdoing in the residential mortgage-backed securities market,” said Attorney General Eric Holder. “With this focus on collaboration — and by bringing our government’s full enforcement resources to bear — I have no doubt that we will improve our ability to recover losses, to prevent fraud, to bring abuses to light, and to hold those who violate the law accountable."

Along with top officials at DOJ and the SEC, the team will be co-chaired by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has risen to prominence by speaking out against a proposed settlement being worked out between state AGs and the nation's largest banks for issues with mortgage servicing and lending.

When the unit is fully up and running, it will consist of at least 55 attorneys, analysts and agents from across the country, and will be charged with finding institutions that violated lending laws, as well as assisting struggling homeowners victimized by those actions.

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