In separate interviews, the two lawmakers said they would not support legislation to impede state prosecutions of fraud or other violations.
Justice Department statistics show that the number of prosecutions of frauds against financial institutions fell 48percentt from 2000 to 2007 while securities fraud cases decreased 17percentthoughough F.B.I. officials said agents focused on larger cases with greater impacts.
The financial threshold will be abolished, bringing the prosecution of benefit fraud in line with the prosecution of other fraud cases, the CPS said.
Mr. Bharara himself appears to have shifted his focus — at least publicly — away from the prosecution of financial fraud.
The judges added that the investigation and prosecution of serious fraud in the financial markets required proper resources, both human and financial, and it was quite clear that the SFO did not have such resources in the Tchenguiz case.
Matthew J. Jacobs, a spokesman for the United States attorney's office here, said Mr. Mueller had made the prosecution of accounting fraud a major objective because of its prevalence in both economic booms and declines.
That sounds much like previous White House efforts, particularly in 2009 when Mr. Obama outlined a new program to strengthen the investigation and prosecution of mortgage fraud, promising more money and people to target "virtually every step of the process, from predatory lending on Main Street to the manipulation on Wall Street".
Jermey H. Temkin, a lawyer for Timothy J. Rigas and a former federal prosecutor, hinted that the public arrest may have been politically motivated as part of Washington's effort to demonstrate its prosecution of corporate fraud amid the crumbling confidence among investors in the stock market.
Many of the statutes of limitations have already run out, and the 10-year window for federal prosecution of mortgage fraud is quickly closing.
There were no complaints about bureaucracy and only two claims deemed worthy of prosecution for fraud.
In later life his business enterprises faltered, leading to debts, prosecution for fraud, and a term of imprisonment.
