Griffin Bell will investigate E. F. Hutton Group.

Hutton Chairman Robert Fomon said at the firm’s annual meeting in New York that Bell, who was attorney general in the Carter Administration, has been hired to review a multibillion-dollar check-kiting scheme to which the company pleaded guilty May 2. Bell is to determine how the scheme evolved, identify the individuals responsible and recommend disciplinary action, Fomon said. Hutton pleaded guilty to 2,000 felony counts stemming from its having written at least $4 billion in checks against uncollected funds at up to 400 banks over a 20-month period.