The new Financial Fraud Task Force, composed of senior-level officials from 25 government agencies, is aimed to combat mortgage, securities and corporate fraud.

The FBI is currently investigating more than 189 cases of corporate fraud and 18 of which had losses greater than $1 billion.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission state in this press release the federal representatives of the task force will work with state and local partners to investigate and prosecute financial crimes, as well as address discrimination in the lending and financial markets. Furthermore, recover proceeds will be distributed for victims.

PBS covered the story here, citing Attorney General Eric Holder will chair the panel and include officials from the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development. The formation of the task force is likely due to the Justice Department’s inspector general recently classifying financial crimes as one of the agency’s 10 biggest enforcement challenges.

PBS also reported in the article the recession has led this spike in financial crimes, including health care fraud, trading scams and mortgage fraud, with the greatest progress being made in this last area: The FBI is investigating more than 2,800 mortgage fraud cases, up almost 400% from five years ago.

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