The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has teamed up with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and they are investigating more than three dozen sub-prime cases to determine any criminal breaches behind the crisis.

Christopher Cox, SEC chairman, told a hearing before the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs that details of the investigations were confidential because it still was unclear whether any securities laws were broken.

‘The investigations involve several areas of potential violations of the securities laws, including securitisation issues by underwriters and other firms involved in the process of bringing sub-prime securities to market, as well as disclosures, valuations, and sales to investors,’ Cox said.

The FBI revealed it had opened two more investigations into corporations involved in sub-prime lending, bringing the total number of probes to 14, according to CFO.com. Washington Post reports SEC has already hired 100 lawyers as part of its sub-prime mortgage working group.

Further reading:

Banks prepare for sub-prime crunches

Lenders 'stretched' rules to get risk off-balance-sheet

Read story in CFO.com