DOJ has broad powers and a broad mandate. Of course it _could_ be used for political reasons, both to go after someone/company or to suppress investigations. We've seen both before.

But we've also seen a lot of DOJ efforts ostensibly toward protecting citizens from bad corporate behavior, especially where monopolistic activites are concerned.

The SEC doesn't have _exclusive_ domain over this sort of thing, though it is probably the more natural investigator.

Good question. What kind of behavior would fall outside the SEC's purview?