Wall Street probed for role in mortgage meltdown

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority is probing more than a dozen brokerage firms to assess the extent of Wall Street’s role in the mortgage industry. FINRA, the Street’s self-regulatory body, sent letters last month to firms requesting information about how mortgage-related products were marketed and sold to individual investors. Regulators are reportedly conducting this “sweep” investigation to determine whether brokers unloaded these risky investments just as the market was collapsing.