The US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations had asked energy market regulators to give documents from a probe of JP Morgan Chase & Co. This came after legislators probe on banks' roles in the commodities markets.

Michigan Democrat Carl Levin sits as the head of the panel with Arizona Republican John McCain, among others. The latter sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The intent was to seek records from the agency's probe and settlement with JP Morgan. This was according to a copy requested by Bloomberg News last August 2.

The legislators asked the FERC to include the outline of the investigators' findings. The 70-page documents were also cited in articles by the New York Times. Last month, a USD410 million agreement was arranged with JP Morgan while regulators kept the said documents in private.

During the wake of 2008's credit crisis, the committee had repeatedly probed on Wall Street companies.  Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s sales records of mortgage-link instruments and JP Morgan's failed derivatives bet handling were among those that were under probe.

Last month, Levin stated that the legislators would use subpoena power to call for banks to disclose information regarding physical commodity dealings.