Caterpillar earth moving equipment is displayed at Patten Industries on April 24, 2006 in Elmhurst, Illinois. Heavy equipment maker Caterpillar reported first-quarter earnings higher than forecasted at $840 million, up 45 percent from $581 million during the same period in 2005. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Caterpillar stock tumbled Thursday after federal prosecutors entered several of the company’s facilities with a search warrant.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois told CNNMoney that there was law enforcement activity carried out at Caterpillar facilities across three cities in Illinois.
Caterpillar said in a statement Thursday that “law enforcement is present in various Peoria-area Caterpillar facilities executing a search warrant. Caterpillar is cooperating.”
Officials declined to provide details regarding the activity. As of about 1:30 pm ET, the company’s stock was down 4.6%.
Illinois-based Caterpillar manufactures construction and mining equipment. It has a market value of about $58 billion.
Caterpillar has come under federal scrutiny before.
In its latest annual report, filed February 15, the company disclosed that a grand jury issued a subpoena in January 2015, requesting “documents and information among other things, financial information concerning U.S. and non-U.S. Caterpillar subsidiaries.”
Additional subpoenas have also been issued related to that investigation. Officials have sought information regarding “the purchase and resale of replacement parts by Caterpillar,” dividend distributions and more, according to the filing.
In 2014, a Senate subcommittee asserted that the company avoided or deferred $2.4 billion in taxes over the course of 13 years. The subcommittee accused the company of shifting its profits to a Swiss affiliate in order to dodge U.S. taxes. At the time, Caterpillar denied any wrongdoing.
Caterpillar was among several companies, including Apple, that the subcommittee has investigated in recent years.
