Not too many years ago, no one had even heard of the Dodd-Frank Act.
In fact, it didn’t even exist until 2010, being enacted in the wake of the great financial crunch the country experienced in 2008, which many critics blamed squarely on overly unregulated big banks, wanton excesses on Wall Street, security insiders’ irregularities and attendant evils.
As noted in an online overview of Dodd-Frank and its intended response to the financial crisis, the legislation “initiated a broad range of reforms affecting nearly every aspect of the financial system.”
Indeed, those reforms are many, and we allude to them in some detail on a relevant page of our website at the Houston law firm of Hilder & Associates, P.C.
We additionally note therein that Dodd-Frank has been supplemented in recent years by other legislation and entities that collectively seek to provide state and federal authorities with far-reaching investigatory and criminal enforcement powers against individuals and businesses suspected of securities crimes and fraud schemes.
The federal Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection is one such entity. So, too, is the Department of Justice’s Financial Fraud Task Force. Both those agencies are creations of the Obama Administration, and both are active in spotlighting alleged fraud and investigating it. The fraud task force has been especially zealous in its high-profile involvement with securities-crime matters.
And then there is the long-tenured U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission. The SEC plays a huge role in fraud cases, bringing many civil actions against perceived wrongdoers.
The stakes are high for any individual or business that is on the receiving end of government scrutiny in a fraud-related matter.
It is imperative for any fraud target to fight back and insist on fundamental fairness. Attorneys at a law firm with a demonstrated record of strong client advocacy in financial crime cases can help ensure that any person or business accused of wrongdoing receive diligent representation unstintingly geared toward a best-case outcome.
