Morgan Stanley’s chief executive said on Wednesday that the Wall Street bank had “no knowledge whatsoever” of a US government probe into it, as its shares fell following a report that federal prosecutors were looking at mortgage-related deals.
James Gorman said the US Department of Justice had not asked the bank about two collateralised debt obligations – securities backed by mortgages – mentioned in an article in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal.
“We have not been contacted by the Justice Department about any transactions that were raised in The Wall Street Journal article,” Mr Gorman said at a press conference in Tokyo. “We have no knowledge whatsoever about the Justice Department investigation.”