U.S. Probes Possible Price-Fixing of IPO Fees

The Justice Department is investigating whether securities firms conspired to fix the highly lucrative fees they charge companies to arrange for initial public offerings. The investigation was disclosed in a filing with securities regulators by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Wall Street’s largest privately held securities firm, which said it had received a civil subpoena for documents. Goldman was required by securities laws to reveal the subpoena. Subpoenas also went to most of Wall Street’s top underwriters. Goldman said the investigation would not delay its plan to sell billions of dollars of its own stock next week in one of the biggest IPOs ever. Justice Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona confirmed that an investigation was underway but declined to comment further.