By Bailey Somers (June 23, 2006, 12:00 AM EDT) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have long collaborated in their investigations of alleged securities law violations. Courts have generally approved the practice of parallel and, sometimes, intersecting investigations. In July 2002, the level of cooperation between the DOJ and the SEC reached a new height with the creation of the Corporate Fraud Task Force, which was designed to facilitate the investigation and prosecution of corporate fraud, as well as to provide enhanced inter-agency coordination of regulatory and criminal investigations. However, the recent findings of two federal district courts that prosecutors overreached in coordinating their investigations with the SEC may portend a new skepticism in how some courts may view simultaneous, ostensibly parallel, investigations by the DOJ and SEC. United States v. Scrushy, 366 F. Supp.2d 1134 (N.D. Ala. 2005); United States v. Stringer, 408 F. Supp.2d 1083 (D. Or. 2006)....