- The FBI is launching a review of yesterday's suspicious buyout bid for Avon Products (NYSE:AVP), and the SEC, which was running a separate civil probe, has shared information with the agency, WSJ reports.
- FBI involvement is an indication those responsible for the apparently bogus bid may have violated criminal statutes.
- Meanwhile, U.K. officials are looking into the matter, as the U.S. filing about the offer said the bidder was registered in the British Indian Ocean Territory, a small cluster of islands between Tanzania and Indonesia.
- AVP says it has not received any takeover bids and reportedly considers the filing as a hoax.