By CASSELL BRYAN-LOW And DEVLIN BARRETT

Investigators haven't found hard evidence so far in probing whether News Corp.'s U.K.-based journalists might have hacked the phones of 9/11 victims, but U.S. authorities have expanded their query to see whether they can establish a broader pattern of more recent misconduct at the company's U.S. operations, say people familiar with the matter.

British police investigating the sweeping phone-hacking scandal at the company's now-closed News of the World tabloid have told the Federal Bureau of Investigation there are no names or telephone numbers of Sept. 11 victims among the evidence they have gathered to date, according to people familiar with the case.

London's Metropolitan Police Service, known as Scotland Yard, has examined voluminous phone records of what could be thousands of potential phone-hacking victims, but those records don't suggest 9/11 victims were among the targets of the hacking, according to the people familiar with the case. A Scotland Yard spokesman declined to comment.

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The broader inquiry concerns past allegations of misconduct made against divisions of News Corp., including a supermarket-coupon and advertising unit that settled a lawsuit from a competitor alleging computer hacking. Above, News Corp.'s building in New York.

The New York Police Department also has told the FBI it has no indication such attempted violations occurred, and the FBI's own crime-victims assistance office has said the same. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to meet later this month with some Sept. 11 families, to discuss their concerns about the issue.

The bureau is continuing to probe the 9/11 hacking claim, the people said. The New York Post, another News Corp. property, has told employees to preserve any records or documents that may be relevant in the phone-hacking inquiry.

The allegation stemmed from an article in the U.K.'s Daily Mirror, based on unnamed sources, that reported News Corp. journalists tried to hack the phones of 9/11 victims. It was among the most serious allegations made in the high-profile scandal that hit News Corp's U.K. operations involving widespread phone hacking that targeted celebrities, politicians and a murder victim. The Justice Department and FBI, after requests from U.S. lawmakers, opened a probe to determine if any U.S. laws had been violated.

A News Corp. spokesman declined to comment. News Corp. owns The Wall Street Journal.

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