| "The Atlanta-based company, which has suffered hefty losses amid a downturn in the housing market, is the subject of an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. attorney's office in Charlotte, along with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, FBI agent Ken Lucas said Tuesday." "In a statement Wednesday morning, Beazer said it has been in contact with the U.S. attorney's office and it was cooperating with a request for unspecified documents. It said there have been no allegations of wrongdoing." ""Beazer Homes has a long established commitment to managing and conducting business in an honest, ethical and lawful manner," the statement said." "Beazer shares dropped $5.41, or 17.2%, to $26.00 in electronic trading Wednesday morning after losing 2.8% on Tuesday in trading on the New York Stock Exchange." "Lucas, a spokesman for the FBI's Charlotte field office, said the inquiry began last week and involves "fraud in general" and more specifically is related to corporate, mortgage and investment issues." "Lucas declined to release more details about the investigation. He also would not say what prompted the inquiry." "reported last week that the company had an unusually high rate of foreclosures in many developments around North Carolina's largest city. The newspaper reported that of the 2,900 Beazer homes built in Mecklenburg County between 1997 and 2006, at least 388 have foreclosed ? a rate above 13%." "Nationally, fewer than 3% of buyers lose homes to foreclosure, the paper said. In its series, The " " documented four examples where the income and debts of borrowers were misstated on their applications for government-insured loans." "But in the statement Wednesday, Beazer said internal investigations have found no evidence to support the claims in the newspaper's articles." "The news comes amid woes in the homebuilding sector and a recent meltdown in the subprime mortgage sector that has seen several lenders seek bankruptcy
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