Obama to form gas-price fraud panel

RENO, Nev. -- President Barack Obama announced Thursday that the Justice Department is assembling a team to "root out any cases of fraud or manipulation" in oil markets that might be contributing to $4 a gallon-plus gasoline prices.

"We are going to make sure that no one is taking advantage of the American people for their own short-term gain," Obama said at a town hall meeting at a renewable energy plant in Reno.

Obama, decrying such levels as yet another hardship "at a time when things were already pretty tough," said Attorney General Eric Holder was forming the Financial Fraud Enforcement Working Group. It will focus some of its investigation on "the role of traders and speculators," Obama said. The group will include several Cabinet department officials.

-- AP