UPDATE: US Senators Seek Investigations Into Alleged News Corp Hacking

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Two U.S. Senators are calling for probes into a News Corp. (NWS, NWSA) phone-hacking scandal, with one suggesting that alleged violations may have occurred in the U.S. and go beyond reporting tactics at one of its British newspapers.

On Wednesday, Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) asked the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate whether anyone at the company violated anti-bribery laws amid allegations that reporters paid law-enforcement officials for information. A day earlier, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D., W. Va.) asked U.S. authorities to investigate whether American phones were hacked, saying he was concerned that hacking may have extended to victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or other Americans.

"This is going to be a huge issue," Rockefeller told reporters on Wednesday as he left a vote on the Senate floor. He said that he may hold hearings in his committee, although jurisdiction would extend to the Senate Judiciary Committee in the event that a probe focused on criminal activity. "My bet" is "we'll find some criminal stuff," he told reporters, specifying he meant related to hacking in the U.S. He declined to elaborate.

A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment. News Corp. owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

Separately, Lautenberg raised questions about possible violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, an anti-bribery law that U.S. authorities have enforced with vigor in recent years.

"I am writing to express my deep concerns regarding allegations that News Corporation and its subsidiaries bribed foreign law enforcement officials for information to advance their business interests," Lautenberg wrote to the SEC and the Justice Department. He said that the law forbids bribery of foreign government officials, and may "apply to all company employees regardless of their nationality or where they reside or do business."

A Justice Department spokeswoman said the agency would review the letter and declined further comment. An SEC spokesman declined to comment. He said he wasn't aware of any earlier cases in which the SEC had had brought charges against a news company involving payments for information.

On Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genchowski said that he didn't expect the agency to get involved in the ongoing probe in the U.K. He said that the FCC's mass-media bureau would "do its job if issues arise."

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; [phone]; [e-mail]

--Brent Kendall contributed to this report.