U.S. Justice Department, SEC investigating Silicon Valley Bank collapse – WSJ

(Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a subsidiary of the defunct SVB Financial Group, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The investigations are also examining stock sales that SVB Financial‘s executives made days before the bank failed, the report said, adding that the Justice Department’s probe involves the departments fraud prosecutors in Washington and San Francisco.

The SEC and a spokesperson for the Justice Department in Washington declined to comment. SVB did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Journal report comes a day after SVB Financial Group and two top executives were sued by shareholders, who accused them of concealing how rising interest rates would leave its Silicon Valley Bank unit susceptible to a bank run.

The proposed class action lawsuit against SVB, Chief Executive Greg Becker and Chief Financial Officer Daniel Beck was filed in the federal court in San Jose, California.

(Reporting by Mehnaz Yasmin in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)