ORLANDO, FL, November 19, 2008
/24-7PressRelease/ -- Federal law enforcement priorities will change tremendously under the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama, says one former Assistant U.S. Attorney who now practices in Orlando.
A. Brian Phillips, a Dept. of Justice attorney for 10 years including six at the U.S. Attorney's office Orlando, said he expects a major overhaul at the U.S. Dept. of Justice, including new division and department heads, new policies and a new agenda that will focus more on domestic issues.
"Every president and attorney general wants to put their imprimatur on the Justice Dept. and the way law enforcement is conducted by the FBI, Homeland Security, IRS, all of the major agencies," Phillips said.
"President-elect Obama has indicated he really wants to focus on increasing compliance, which means more IRS audits, more criminal investigators, and more resources," Phillips said.
The FBI may be in for major changes as well.
"Since 9-11, the FBI has been bogged down with terrorism and counter-terrorism work," Phillips said. "As a consequence their efforts to combat white collar crime and fraud have slacked off significantly."
Phillips' practice focuses on white collar crime and tax and he teaches tax fraud to graduate students obtaining their LL.M at the University of Florida and white collar crime to law students at Barry University.
"I expect the Obama administration will pump more resources into the FBI with more emphasis on white collar investigations, especially in light of the huge bailouts we can attribute in some cases to criminal acts," he said.
"Look for the FBI to set up a mortgage fraud task force, similar to what they did after the S&L crisis of the 1980s, to go after the so-called 'mortgage mills,' including lenders and some borrowers who knew what they were doing was illegal," Phillips said.
Phillips said directors and officers of failed S&Ls were indicted and prosecuted after the failure that cost taxpayers an estimated $500 billion.
"It will be interesting to see where Congress finds the money and the resources to do all this because the Justice Department will still have to deal with domestic and international terrorism threats," Phillips added.
For more information, please contact:
A. Brian Phillips, Esq., Orlando, 407-872-0777; Brian.Phillips@Phillips-Law-Firm.com;
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications, 407-644-4142
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