FBI says it is aggressively probing mortgage fraud

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Thursday it is aggressively investigating corporate fraud related to mortgage lending, generally involving large corporations.

"I'm content to say (they're) generally rather large corporations," FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters at a news briefing. The agency previously had said its probe of potential fraud in the home mortgage industry encompassed 19 companies. It has not identified them.

Mueller also said since March 1, the agency's Operation Malicious Mortgage, which targets individual defendants, has resulted in 144 mortgage fraud cases involving some $1 billion in losses.

(Reporting by Randy Mikkelsen, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)