WASHINGTON — The Senate voted Tuesday to hire hundreds more FBI agents and prosecutors to investigate the estimated 5,000 allegations of mortgage fraud reported each month.
The 92-4 bipartisan vote came as a House panel considered an anti-predatory-lending bill that attempts to ban the type of subprime mortgage loans that contributed to the nation’s economic slide. It also came as the former head of a one-time leading mortgage lender, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., agreed to pay nearly $2.5 million to settle allegations of accounting fraud.
The Senate bill, sponsored by Sens. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is estimated to cost more than $265 million a year for the next two years. Supporters, including President Barack Obama, say the legislation would more than pay for itself because of the fines and penalties that would result from more aggressive investigations.
Bill supporters anticipate that the money would hire another 160 special FBI agents and more than 200 support staff, including forensic analysts. Currently, the FBI has fewer than 250 special agents assigned to financial-fraud cases.
