Relatively quietly, federal and state authorities have launched a new securities fraud task force in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte Observer reports that the task force will focus on insider trading, accounting fraud and other finance-related crimes.

The member of the task force reportedly include:

the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina

the SEC's Atlanta regional office

the FBI

the N.C. Attorney General's Office

the securities division of the N.C. Secretary of State's office

the IRS criminal division

the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and

the Mecklenburg County District Attorney's Office.

Why Charlotte? David Brown, the first assistant U.S. attorney in the W.D. of North Carolina, said that Charlotte is the nation's No. 2 banking center, home to securities firms with nearly $50 billion in assets under management. Fraud, he said, tends to quickly follow the money. The task force seeks to promote collaboration between the various federal and state agencies in financial fraud cases.

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