The investigation began before S&P, a unit of McGraw-Hill, downgraded the long-term U.S. debt from a AAA rating to AA-plus this month. The Justice Department is investigating whether Standard & Poor's improperly rated dozens of mortgage securities in the years before the financial crisis.
In the mortgage investigation, the Justice Department has been asking about instances in which S&P analysts wanted to assign lower ratings to mortgage bonds but may have been overruled by S&P business managers, the Times reported. Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the story upon being contacted by Reuters. S&P did not immediately respond to phone calls seeking comment outside regular U.S. business hours.
