ALBANY - Federal investigators are reportedly looking into thoroughbred sales involving Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, particularly the purchase of two horses from a politically connected real estate developer.

Bruno in 2005 bought two mares from developer Earle Mack for $50,000 and then spent $74,000 to breed them with stud horses. Bruno later sold three of their foals at auction for $425,000, with Mack buying one of the foals for $105,000, the Times Union of Albany first reported Sunday.

Bruno is the state's top Republican and Mack is a longtime contributor to state and national Republican candidates. Mack once served on the board of the New York Racing Association as a Bruno appointee.

Bruno, speaking to reporters after a state Capitol news conference Monday, would not comment on the report, but professed his innocence.

“I am accused of nothing as we speak, and I expect to be accused of nothing,” Bruno said.

Mack's lawyer, Gregory Kehoe, did not immediately respond to a phone message left by The Associated Press on Monday. He told The New York Times that there was nothing improper about the sale of the two mares.

“The horse people working for Mr. Mack wanted to get rid of them for less than that,” Kehoe told the Times. “He ultimately saved money.”

He said Mack had cooperated with the investigation.

Federal authorities have been investigating Bruno's private business dealings for more than a year.

The Times Union reported that the Mack deal is being probed by federal investigators who sought records from that transaction and others involving Bruno's friends and business associates. The newspaper reported that investigators issued subpoenas seeking documents from 2001 to the present on 15 related people, business entities or horses, including Bruno and his Troy-area breeding farm.