The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act created the Troubled Asset Relief Program to administer up to $700 billion.
[1] Its purpose is to review the operation of TARP, to make recommendations to the Treasury for improvements, and to watch for fraud and misrepresentation.
The panel was required to report their findings to Congress every 30 days, counting from the first asset purchase made under the program.
[18] Kaufman was succeeded in Congress by Senator Chris Coons on November 15, 2010, but he remained chairperson of the Congressional Oversight Panel until its dissolution in 2011.
[20][24] Christy Goldsmith Romero was sworn-in as the current Special Inspector General on April 9, 2012, having been nominated by President Obama on February 1, 2012, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2012.
It has 45 investigators who are empowered to carry guns and badges, and 27 vehicles with sirens and lights spread out in its branch offices across the United States.
The agency is currently engaged in 142 ongoing criminal and civil investigations, and it has already recovered assets worth $151.8 million.
They worked with FBI agents in a raid on Colonial Bank in Orlando, Florida in an investigation into possible TARP-related fraud.
"[62] A January 29, 2009 article from [3] stated, "Bloomberg News asked the Treasury Department Jan. 26 to disclose what securities it backed over the past two months in a second round of actions to prop up Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. Department spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Jan. 27 she would seek an answer.
An overwhelming majority saw the bailout program as a no-strings-attached windfall that could be used to pay down debt, acquire other businesses or invest for the future.
[66] On February 4, 2009, it was reported that during 2008, the companies that received bailout money had spent $114 million on lobbying and campaign contributions.
"[67] A February 2, 2009, ABC News article titled, "Bailed Out Bank of America Sponsors Super Bowl Fun Fest" stated that Bank of America sponsored a Super Bowl event at a five-star resort in Palm Beach, which was described as "... a five day carnival-like affair... 850,000 square feet of sports games and interactive entertainment attractions for football fans..." Although the bank refused to answer ABC News' questions about the cost of the event, a confidential source told ABC that the cost was approximately $10 million (~$13.8 million in 2023).