They include the antitrust, civil and criminal divisions, as well as the fraud section of the criminal division, people involved in the case said.

In addition, prosecutors from the fraud section, part of the criminal division, will be part of the task force.

By bringing the prosecutors together, while simultaneously adding the manpower from the department's fraud section, legal experts said, the government is raising the probability of indictments.

All three had previously worked in the fraud section of the Justice Department's criminal division.

The meeting with the lawyer was deeply disturbing in the department, said Joseph B. Tompkins, then deputy chief of the fraud section.

He moved to the Justice Department in 1973, where he rose to head the fraud section six years later.

Officials said that prosecutors in the fraud section of the Justice Department's criminal division had issued subpoenas seeking records from the medical group.

"They were malingerers," said Mr. Ives, former director of the department's fraud section.

Prosecutors in the fraud section of the Justice Department's criminal division have issued subpoenas seeking records from the medical group, officials said.

He has spent 22 years in law enforcement, most recently as head of the major fraud section in the Justice Department.