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