U.S. Is Said to Open Investigation Into Silicon Valley Bank Collapse

The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the California lender that was taken over by federal regulators on Friday after its depositors rushed to pull their money out of the bank, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

The investigation is in its early stages, and it is unclear just what federal prosecutors are focused on, the person said. A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment.

One focus could be sales of company shares by several bank executives in the weeks before the bank’s failure, several legal experts said.

The sales generated millions of dollars in proceeds, though some of the bank’s executives sold stock pursuant to insider selling plans that set the timing of such sales in advance. Such plans are set up by corporate executives to avoid the appearance of trading on confidential information.