WALL STREET JOURNAL: "JPMorgan", "Citigroup" "Deutsche Bank" and UBS under investigation in the US

U.S. prosecutors and the Securities and Exchange Commission are cooperating in a preliminary criminal probe into whether banks misled investors about their participation in mortgage-bond deals, the Wall Street Journal said, citing anonymous sources. According to the WSJ, the American authorities are targeting "JPMorgan Chase & Co.", "Citigroup" Inc., "Deutsche Bank" AG and UBS AG, which have received civil subpoenas.

"Goldman Sachs Group" Inc. and "Morgan Stanley" are already being investigated by the American authorities on similar issues, the WSJ said.

Prosecutors so far haven"t issued criminal subpoenas, according to the Journal.

Chris Cockerill, a Hong Kong-based spokesman for UBS, and James Griffiths, a spokesman for Citigroup, declined to comment on the article published by the WSJ, as did the spokespeople for Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank.

Spokespersons of the General Prosecutor"s Office of Manhattan and of the SEC declined to comment.

The Wall Street firms are being investigated by the Prosecutor"s office and by Congress, as they are suspected of having sold collateralized debt obligations based on the subprime mortgages which caused the credit crisis.

"Goldman Sachs" is contesting the lawsuit filed by the SEC, which alleges the firm misled investors about the mortgage- linked security market in 2007.

"Morgan Stanley" said it hasn"t been contacted by the prosecutors and said the bank did not do anything illegal in its trading.

On Wednesday, the WSJ announced that the American prosecutors were investigating whether "Morgan Stanley" misled investors about mortgage derivatives. James Gorman denied the allegations.