Congress was smart enough to not let loose the billions of TARP funds without some oversight. The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) was established by Section 121 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act as amended by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Act of 2009. Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for SIGTARP sees serious dangers in the operation of the US Treasury’s umbrella bailout plan according to his Quarterly Report to Congress.
SIGTARP set up a SIGTARP Hotline for reporting of concerns, allegations, information, and evidence of violations of criminal and civil laws in connection with TARP. SIGTARP has already received almost 200 tips. Both from the hotline and from other sources, SIGTARP has initiated nearly 20 preliminary and full criminal investigations to date.
Since SIGTARP’s Initial Report in February, SIGTARP’s Audit Division launched a survey of 364 TARP recipients to obtain answers to recurring questions regarding use of TARP funding and actions taken to comply with executive compensation requirements associated with the funding. They had a 100% response rate.
For those of you wondering where all the money has gone and what they are doing with it, this is a great report to browse through.
See:
- SIGTARP webpage
- April 21, 2009 Quarterly Report of SIGTARP (.pdf) (update)
- [http://www.sigir.mil/sigtarp/lkgfdkdlfjg/pdf/SIGTARP_April_2009_Complete.pdf?bcsi_scan_447638299E31E942=Q10gNAP31VRIpUSk4mXfUw0AAAB1VQIR&bcsi_scan_filename=SIGTARP_April_2009_Complete.pdf] April 21, 2009 Quarterly Report of SIGTARP (.pdf) – original location of the report on the website for Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (update)
- Crimes Suspected in 20 Bailout Cases — For Starters by Ralph Vartabedian and Tom Hamburger for the LA Times
- The TARP Cop Report by Paul Murphy for the Financial Times
- SIGTARP Hotline for reporting of concerns, allegations, information, and evidence of violations of criminal and civil laws in connection with TARP
- SIGTARP Initial Report to Congress (.pdf) February 6, 2009
- Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program Act of 2009 bill text and status on Thomas