The Justice Department is muscling in on financial cases normally handled by the Securities and Exchange Commission, The Washington Post reports.
In addition to Justice’s $13 billion civil settlement with JPMorgan Chase, the department also sued Standard & Poor’s this year.
{mosads}Justice has been able to use a 1980s-era law, which the SEC cannot, that gives them strong subpoena power and a low burden of proof to deal with financial institutions. The SEC, for instance, only wrung a $300 million penalty out of JPMorgan.