In Friday's corporations and securities law news, the SEC's inquiry into Fannie Mae's accounting practices has become a formal investigation. Commissioners have given the agency power to subpoena documents and testimony from witnesses. The Washington Post has more.

In other news, as previously reported on JURIST's Paper Chase, a UK court has ruled that three British bankers at NatWest implicated in a multi-million pound fraud involving Enron officials should be tried in the United States. Read the indictment here [PDF]. JURIST's Paper Chase has ongoing coverage of the Enron scandal. CNN has more.... SEC Chairman William Donaldson said the SEC will soon vote on new governance and disclosure rules for America's stock markets. Donaldson said the commission is "waging an uphill fight" against corporate wrongdoing. Read Donaldson's remarks here. Reuters has more.... SunTrust Banks Inc. announced the SEC has begun an informal probe into the bank's decision to restate financial results from the beginning of this year. Read the SunTrust press release here. Reuters has more.... US Bankruptcy Court Judge Stephen Mitchell ruled Thursday that US Airways could use the approximately $745 million in cash currently pledged as collateral to its lenders. The airline need a court's approval to use the money because the company has been unable to find new funding after it declared bankruptcy earlier this year. The Pittsburgh Business Times has more.... The US government has announced an inquiry into the no-bid contracts in Iraq given to Halliburton. The International Advisory and Monitoring Board announced the inquiry here. BBC has more.