TARP closing, but another door opens

This final note, two weeks from now, our long national bailout is officially over. The door will be closing on new investments by the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But you know what they say: Whenever one door closes, another door of opportunity opens — in this case, an expected wave of TARP fraud litigation.

As the program winds down, the office in charge of TARP oversight is hiring new staff and opening four regional offices. They say they’ll be focusing on whether banks may have misrepresented their financial condition to qualify for bailout funds.