WASHINGTON Taxpayers who qualify for the first-time homebuyer credit and purchase a home this year before Dec. 1 have a special option available for claiming the tax credit either on their 2008 tax returns due April 15 or on their…

NEW YORK and LONDON -- Fresh optimism over Chinas growth prospects has led to a marked improvement in economic sentiment globally, according to the Merrill Lynch Survey of Fund Managers for February. Investors are at their most hopeful about the…

Banks Offer Products and Services for the Unbanked and Underbanked; Opportunities for Improvement Remain In the first national survey of banks efforts to serve unbanked and underbanked individuals and families in their market areas, the FDIC found that improvement may…

DENVER David Gwin, age 50, of Commerce City, Colorado, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver last week on charges of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with an advanced fee scam. Gwin was arrested by federal…

WASHINGTON-Tai Khiem Tran, 47, pleaded guilty in San Diego to conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise, the Tran Organization, in a scheme to cheat casinos across the United States and Canada. Tran admitted that he and his co-conspirators unlawfully…

PHILADELPHIA - A criminal complaint¹ has been filed against Joseph Forte, charging him with mail fraud. According to the affidavit, Forte was the sole general partner of an investment fund, which he used as a pyramid or Ponzi scheme to…

CHARLOTTE, N.C., -- Bank of America unveiled the Lending & Investing Initiative, a comprehensive plan to track and report on Bank of Americas business activity in 10 areas key to reviving the nations economy. The initiative, which was presented to…

Phoenix, Arizona - Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, along with the Attorneys General of 21 other states and the District of Columbia, sent a letter to U.S. House and Senate Leadership advocating an amendment to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to…

Washington, DC The Treasury Department and the Office of Management and Budget released the Fiscal Year 2008 Financial Report of the United States Government. The report details the U.S. government's current financial position, as well as its short-term and long-term…

With banks and the economy in the news so much lately, many people are thinking more about the safety of their money. The good news for consumers is that federal deposit insurance coverage has significantly increased, primarily as a result…

The FBI has identified a new technique used to conduct vishing attacks where hackers exploit a known security vulnerability in Asterisk software. Asterisk is free and widely used software developed to integrate Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems with Voice over…

"3 Questions" is a new series from the MIT News Office that gives members of the community the opportunity to sound off on current events in their field of expertise. In this, the first installment, Michael Cusumano, the Sloan Management…