Today’s accountability news:

• Hedge funds are benefiting from a large number of former government employees who now work for them as lobbyists, according to Politico. The report says that half of one firm’s 83 lobbyists used to serve in government. 
• According to The Wall Street Journal, a 2004 study showed that a safety mechanism on oil wells might not work in deep waters, but federal regulators failed to mandate any upgrades. The device is suspected of malfunctioning in the current disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Transocean, the company that operates the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf, eliminated executive bonuses in 2009 in an effort to “underscore the company’s commitment to safety,” reports The Wall Street Journal. The move came after four Transocean workers were killed in 2009.
  
• Documents show that the Federal Reserve discussed the possibility of a housing bubble in 2004 but dismissed the idea, reports The Washington Independent.
• The Chicago Tribune reports that a mortgage broker is accused of targeting Latino immigrants in a loan modification scam. Distressed homeowners say the scheme misled them into signing over the deeds to their property. 

These stories are part of our ongoing roundup of investigations from other news outlets. For more, visit our Investigations Elsewhere page.