U.S. regulators in fraud probe of Florida pension fund

MIAMI, Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. federal regulators have launched a fraud investigation into the state agency that runs Florida's $104 billion pension system and another fund hit by a 2007 depositors run, according to government documents. Documents from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, made public on Friday by Florida's St Petersburg Times newspaper, said the agency's investigation of the Florida State Board of Administration (SBA) is tied to subprime mortgages and includes three Wall Street broker dealers. The firms were listed as Credit Suisse Securities LLC, JPMorgan Securities Inc and the defunct Lehman Brothers . A spokesman for the SBA based in Tallahassee, Florida, was not available to comment on the non-public inquiry, which began more than a year ago. The investigation centers on whether or not fraud or deceit were used in placing billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities with Florida Prime, an SBA-run fund stung by steep losses in 2007 at the depths of the subprime-credit crisis, according to the documents. Then known as the Local Government Investment Pool and designed as a safe-harbor, money market-like fund for Florida cities, counties and other municipalities, Florida Prime was hit by a headline-making run by its depositors. The newspaper said it had obtained the documents from the SBA by making a public-records request. (Reporting by Michael Connor; Editing by Andrew Hay) Keywords: FLORIDA/INQUIRY ([e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved.

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