Wall Street specialists under investigation.(Business)

NEW YORK - As many as 20 individual specialists on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange are under investigation by the Justice Department for allegedly using illegal trading practices to cheat customers, a source close to the case confirmed Monday.

The probe, reported Monday by The New York Times , is an extension of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the trading practices of specialists from 1999 through 2003, the source said on condition of anonymity.

The NYSE began investigating the specialists - the …