Justice Department

The Justice Department doesn't have to look far to find a scam that preys on people whose retirement plans have been crippled by the global financial meltdown.

It designed one of its own. And e-mailed it to agency employees.

The bogus offer -- signed by "Thrift Savings Plan Account Coordinator" -- was sent two weeks ago and directed employees to a Web site and asked them to plug in account information by Jan. 31.

The hoax triggered a bout of anxiety and warnings among Justice Department employees.

The top Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee is joining a chorus of lawmakers urging the Justice Department to scrutinize the planned Internet advertising partnership between Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc.

Texas Republican Joe Barton also accuses Yahoo of resisting congressional inquiries into the deal. He said that many of the company's answers to his questions "seemed designed to obscure rather than clarify how the Google-Yahoo partnership would work."

In a possible blow to Yahoo Inc.'s hopes for an advertising partnership with Google Inc., the Justice Department has hired an antitrust litigator to review evidence for what could become a legal challenge to the deal.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the attorney is Sanford Litvack, a former vice chairman at Walt Disney Co. and chief of the Justice Department's antitrust division during the Carter administration.