Wells Fargo declined to comment on rumors that the Securities and Exchange Commission is close to filing civil charges against Wachovia, the troubled bank that Wells Fargo acquired in 2008. The SEC may file charges against Wachovia for inflating the pricing on mortgage-bond deals, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The Journal also cited sources familiar with the matter as saying the SEC is upping its probe into major banks that were involved in the selling or trading of collateralized debt obligations, which were backed by pools of mortgages. A spokeswoman for Wells Fargo told HousingWire.com the bank has no comment on the news reports. The WSJ said the SEC sent related subpoenas to Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and UBS AG. In October 2008, Wells Fargo offered to pay roughly $15 billion to acquire Wachovia. Write to Kerri Panchuk.