Former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive John Thain, who was fired after a scandal over the payment of billions of bonuses to Merrill traders, argued that big payouts played no role in triggering the financial crisis.

The Obama administration created a new task force  to crack down on financial fraud, an increasingly important political issue after a spike in mortgage scams and big Wall Street trading scandals.

A senior House Democrat says the government didn't force Bank of America to take over Merrill Lynch, but a bank board member said much pressure was applied and Republicans charged that a committee inquiry was covering up the role of an Obama administration official.

Some 14,700 rich Americans worried about a U.S. government crackdown on offshore tax cheats came forward to participate in a tax amnesty program, the top U.S. tax official said on Tuesday.

Afghanistan and Iraq, countries that receive billions of dollars a year in international support, are among the world's most corrupt nations, a watchdog group said in a report released Tuesday.

The Treasury Department, Justice Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Securities and Exchange Commission plan to form a taskforce to devote more resources to discovering and punishing those who commit financial fraud, NBC News has learned.

The most important new antidiscrimination law in two decades — the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act — will take effect in the nation’s workplaces next weekend, prohibiting employers from requesting genetic testing or considering someone’s genetic background in hiring, firing or promotions. The New York Times explaines the ramifications.

The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped up its consumer protection efforts for the second time in less than a week Monday, proposing to limit the ability of gift card issuers to impose excessive fees.

National Liquidators handled the successful sale of  Bernard Madoff's three boats, a Mercedes convertible, and a fourth boat once owned by Madoff's right-hand man Frank DiPascali. All totaled, the auction raised more than $2 million for Madoff's victims.

The British government will this week outline legislation allowing consumers to group together to claim damages from financial institutions that mislead customers over financial products, a government source said on Monday.

Pfizer said it would pull 1,400 jobs out of New London within two years and move most of them a few miles away to a campus it owns in Groton, Conn., as a cost-cutting measure. It would leave behind the city’s biggest office complex and an adjacent swath of barren land that was cleared of dozens of homes to make room for a hotel, stores and condominiums that were never built.

The alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four others who will be tried in U.S. criminal court will be moved from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to a federal detention facility in New York, the Justice Department said on Friday.

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Google and book publishers are expected to show a federal judge in New York a new settlement in the copyright lawsuit over Google's book-scanning project.

A top economic adviser to U.S. President Barack Obama warned on Friday that the urgency for changing the rules of the road for financial firms may be waning and urged Congress to act while the general public is focused on banking issues.