The FBI is investigating a possible mortgage fraud in the collapse of banking giants -- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and AIG, a media report said.
FBI spokesman Special Agent Richard Kelko had no comment on that information, but said that 26 firms were currently under investigation as part of the bureau's mortgage fraud inquiry, CNN reported.
"The FBI currently has 26 pending corporate fraud investigations involving subprime lenders," Kelko told CNN.
"As we have seen, this number can fluctuate over time, however, we do not discuss which companies may or may not be the subject of an investigation," he said.
The television network quoted sources as saying the probes of Fannie, Freddie, Lehman and AIG are believed to be in the early stages. One source said the government would be "remiss" if it didn't look into what happened at these companies because of the financial problems they are involved in and the actions of individuals running them.
The United States is in the midst of a spiralling economic crisis fuelled largely by the housing market.
FBI Director Robert Mueller had told the Congress that 1,400 individual real estate lenders, brokers and appraisers were now under investigation in addition to two dozen corporations.
Earlier this decade, mortgage lenders relaxed restrictions on obtaining mortgages as home prices soared about 85 per cent from 1996 through 2006 in inflation-adjusted dollars, creating a bubble. Then the bubble popped, and lenders as well as mortgagees took the hit.
