"This involves conscious wrongdoing, or as it has sometimes been expressed, a bad or evil state of mind."

It was also reported that the US attorney for the District of Columbia was conducting a preliminary inquiry to determine whether transactions at the bank had involved criminal wrongdoing.

An F.B.I. official said today that any accusation involving wrongdoing by an agent is taken seriously.

Perhaps more importantly, many people want a professional advocate when they become involved in a dispute, particularly if the dispute involves perceived legal rights, legal wrongdoing, or threat of legal action against them.

A ripoff is usually distinguished from a scam in that a scam involves wrongdoing such as fraud; a ripoff may be considered excessive, but not illegal.

Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, often involving crime, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing.

It means that several meetings involving potential wrongdoing by Mr. Skilling and Mr. Lay boiled down to he-said, she-said statements on the stand.

In addition, the Sûreté du Québec can investigate any incident that involves wrongdoing by a municipal police force or a case where a police intervention caused death.

Is the law, as Ms. Reno said today, meant to be applied only when investigators learn of precise and specific instances involving wrongdoing by the nation's highest officials?

It has not been shown that any of these earlier relationships or transactions involved wrongdoing.