nce upon a time the U.S. government allocated $700 billion in taxpayer money to bail out failing financial institutions, creating the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Follow the ongoing tale of where TARP funds have been spent, how this money is being used, and who is in line to receive our hard-earned taxpayer dollars…
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that it would use as much as $1 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to spur lending to small businesses in lower-income areas.
Under the initiative, banks, thrifts or credit unions that are certified by the Treasury as community development financial institutions can apply for capital injections.
CDFI firms are set up to invest in urban and rural areas marked by poverty and often not served by traditional banks.
The federal office in charge of investigating TARP crimes is opening satellite offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles "because frankly that's where we're seeing ... the criminal activity," the head of the office said in a TV interview.
The Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, also known as SIGTARP, is in charge of auditing and investigating the purchase, management and sale of assets under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. It has law-enforcement powers including the ability to investigate, search and arrest fraudsters.
WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department now expects to use less money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program than the maximum it projected when the rescue effort was extended late last year.
The Obama administration's fiscal year 2011 budget proposal suggests total obligations under TARP will reach $546.4 billion. That figure is $230.3 billion less than projected in the president's midsession budget review in August and $13.6 billion less than the maximum Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said would be disbursed under the extended program.
