Obama's administration has set up a finance task force

US President Barack Obama's administration has set up a task force to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. Led by the US justice department, the group will involve several government bodies and regulators working together. The body replaces a corporate fraud task force set up by President George W Bush's administration in 2002. Regulators had been criticised for failing to prevent Bernard Madoff's $65 bn (£40 bn) investment scheme fraud. Attorney General Eric Holder said the new body also aimed to prevent any future financial meltdown, following last year's economic crisis. Combining resources He said: "We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing and we will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives." Mr Holder said this body would be far bigger than the one set up by the Bush administration seven years ago in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corp. It will include state investigators as well as federal agencies combining resources. The body is set to meet for the first time within the next 30 days. Mr Holder said the group would learn from the case of former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin. The US justice department lost its case against the pair last week when they were cleared of fraud by a New York jury. In March last year, Bear Stearns became one of the most high-profile victims of the credit crunch, after American banking giant JP Morgan agreed to buy it with the backing of the US Federal Reserve.