Italian prosecutors handling the Parmalat financial scandal have placed under investigation five international banks, two Italian institutions and some employees for suspected market-rigging, media reports said on Tuesday.
Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and UBS were formally included in the probe into the insolvent food group's affairs, according to the reports by news agencies ANSA and AGI.
Italy's Banca Popolare di Lodi and Banca Intesa's fund management unit Nextra were also named, they said.
Until now no banks have been formally put under investigation in the case. Auditing firm Grant Thornton's former Italian unit and rival firm Deloitte & Touche's Italy division were already on the list.
A senior judicial source told Reuters it was probable that some of the reported names were under investigation but declined to confirm that all seven were on the list.
Ten people are under arrest including Parmalat's founder and two former chief financial officers. At least 28 people are under investigation in the case.
Prosecutors have been trying to establish how much banks who helped Parmalat sell some eight billion euros in bonds since 1995 knew about the precarious state of its finances.