General Electric (NYSE: GE) wasn't an investor favorite on Friday. The veteran industrials-and-more conglomerate had its share price dinged by 1.4% on the day, a slightly worse decline than the 1.1% slide suffered by the S&P 500 index. News of a regulator's digging into its operations overseas was the catalyst for the decline. 

Before market open, Reuters reported that financial regulatory authorities in France had conducted searches of General Electric's facility in the eastern city of Belfort. Citing a response from deputy financial prosecutor Antoine Jocteur-Monrozier, the news agency added that this was done as part of a preliminary investigation into alleged money laundering and tax fraud.

The French official said that the probe is ongoing. It stems from a complaint from the workers' council and unions at the facility. This alleged that General Electric transferred 555 million euros ($590 million) in profits from there to Switzerland or the U.S. It was not clear how the industrial company apparently effected this.

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Source Fool.com