U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents arrested 48 Wall Street foreign exchange brokers on Tuesday in what appeared to be a sting operation targeting several well-known firms.

FBI officers swarmed on Two World Financial Center late on Tuesday afternoon and led out men in business suits, taking them away in vans and cars. Some of the men covered their heads with overcoats while others bowed their heads to hide from television cameras and photographers.

FBI agents began arresting brokers at the tony office building in downtown Manhattan shortly after 3 p.m. and for about two hours led out handcuffed people dressed in business attire.

"It's currency fraud, securities fraud," said one agent at the scene of the arrests. "It's been a long investigation. The arrests have been ongoing today."

The FBI sources said the Wall Street traders will be charged with swindling retail investors of an undisclosed amount of cash over the past year. One source said those arrested would be charged with money laundering and fraud.

NBC reported the defendants scammed retail investors into thinking they were buying multimillion-dollar foreign exchange trades when it is not possible for those types of investors to participate in such deals.

A Reuters reporter on the 36th floor of Two World Financial Center witnessed FBI agents removing about 10 boxes from one company's office.

A spokesman for the FBI declined comment but said the agency will hold a briefing on Wednesday. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney and the Treasury Department also declined comment.

Among those arrested were three brokers at the inter-dealer brokerage ICAP (IAP.L), which operates at a different location, according to another source.

The unexpected operation came at a time when America's financial markets have been hit by scandal after scandal. Corporate wrongdoing by companies like Enron, which went bankrupt in 2001, sparked a massive accounting scandal that rocked investor confidence and unearthed irregularities at other companies.

Since then Wall Street equity research companies have been targeted by prosecutors for inflating stocks during the Internet boom of the late 1990s. More recently the mutual fund industry has been investigated on charges of price gouging.

Until Tuesday the foreign exchange market, which boasts top companies, millionaires and banks as their primary clients, has remained untouched by scandal.

The names of other companies involved remained unclear, but sources told Reuters at least four companies were targeted. Sources said none of the companies targeted were household names outside of the securities industry but are well known and regarded in the Wall Street community.

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