Los Angeles federal prosecutors have indicated that they may soon be charging many banks and subprime lenders for their contributions to the U.S. mortgage crisis. A grand jury has been investigating many lenders, the main three being Countrywide Financial Corp., IndyMac Bancorp Inc., and New Century Financial Corp, to see if mortgage fraud and similar crimes were committed.

U.S. Attorney Thomas O´Brien, in speaking to The Associated Press, said that "I think we are going to see some fairly dramatic results in the near future,...Mortgage fraud is an extremely important issue to me and to the people of this district." O´Brien just ended his first year over looking the Central District of CA. This area is where many lending firms engaged in illicit activity by roping homeowners into several loans with low teaser rates that later skyrocketed after a certain time.

The government is using a so to speak surgical approach in their investigations and hope to pursue indictments with 3 to 4 counts, cutting down the time frame process, instead of dragging out the process by also pursuing additional charges. O´Brien remarked that, "We offer them three or four counts,...We would get the same sentence and we plead them out and we move on to another crook."