Business news for Tue, 18 Dec 2007 & with word bear. 6 news.

Bear Stearns Cos., the second- biggest underwriter of U.S. mortgage bonds, reported its first loss as a public company after writedowns for subprime holdings and declines in the firm's three largest divisions.

US regulators and prosecutors are probing an allegation that Bear Stearns Cos. allowed insiders to pull investments from hedge funds that collapsed in July while blocking outsiders from making withdrawals, BusinessWeek magazine reported, without...

The investigation by securities regulators and federal prosecutors into this summer’s collapse of two Bear Stearns hedge funds that invested in risky securities backed by subprime mortgages is reportedly heating up. According to BusinessWeek, the Securities & Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn are looking into an allegation that some Bear Stearns [...]

Financial turmoils that involve vast sums follow definite rhythms, and one predictable beat is the arrival of the subpoena.

TEL AVIV (MarketWatch) -- U.S. prosecutors are looking at whether a Bear Stearns Cos. manager improperly withdrew funds from a hedge fund that would later collapse, while he made bullish statements about the fund's prospects, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Before two funds began to founder last spring, Ralph Cioffi transferred $2 million of his own funds from one of them to a fund with a separate investment strategy, the people told the paper. Bear Stearns declined to comment on the matter, the Journal reported.

Prosecutors are looking at whether a Bear Stearns executive made improper withdrawals from one of the collapsed funds.