CBL & Associates said to be under probe by FBI, SEC for fraud

New York

SHARES of CBL & Associates Properties Inc fell the most in almost five years after a published report said the US retail landlord is being investigated for accounting fraud.

The stock of the Chattanooga, Tennessee-based real estate investment dropped 8.4 per cent, the most since August 2011, to close at US$9.40 on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported late Tuesday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) are probing whether the firm falsified information on financial statements to banks when applying for financing.