FBI investigates four Wall Street players

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The FBI has opened investigations into possible fraud at four entities at the center of the recent turmoil in the U.S. financial markets, officials said.

The inclusion of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers and American International Group insurance company brings to 26 the number of federal investigations into wrongdoing in institutions tied to the mortgage crisis, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has at least 50 probes into disclosure and valuation of housing-related investments at banks, credit-rating agencies and insurers, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told the U.S. Senate Banking Committee Tuesday.

Investigators face challenges in investigating the mortgage-related cases because of their complexity, people associated with the probes told the Post.

"The reason is they involve securities ... that are all but incomprehensible even to sophisticated investors," said Timothy Coleman, a former U.S. Justice Department official in charge of the department's corporate fraud task force. "The other problem is that there is no obvious crime that was committed here."

News of the investigations into Federal National Mortgage Association, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, respectively -- investment house Lehman Brothers and insurance giant AIG came as Congress considers a $700 billion plan Bush administration officials said would help stabilize the markets by helping lenders unload more than $700 billion of bad assets on a taxpayer-funded entity.