(CNN)
"New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman will head a task force
to investigate housing practices, a
senior administration official said
early Wednesday.
During Tuesday night's State of the
Union address, President Barack
Obama said he was asking U.S.
Attorney General Eric Holder to
create a special unit made up of
prosecutors and state attorneys
general to "expand our
investigations into the abusive
lending and packaging of risky
mortgages."
Obama also said a "Financial Crimes
Unit" was in the works. The group
will be charged with cracking down
on "large-scale fraud" in an effort
to protect the public's
investments."