While Facebook was having a major breakdown, report the details of the criminal investigation of the company

Federal prosecutors lead criminal investigation into Facebook's data-sharing agreements with a number of large tech companies, newspaper says

a new report in the New York Times

.

As part of the investigation, a New York grand jury summoned two renowned smartphone manufacturers for recordings related to the investigation, according to the report.

The Times report was released late Wednesday, as Facebook faced a major blackout.

Facebook had

data sharing agreements with more than 150 companies

, according to a December report in the New York Times. The transactions helped Facebook to win more users, according to the report, and its partners were able to access users' data without obtaining their consent. Many partnerships ended years ago, the Times noted, but agreements with Amazon and Apple were ongoing at the time of the release of the story.

The grand jury investigation was conducted on behalf of the US Attorney's Office in the East District of New York. When contacted by CNN Business, the Eastern District did not comment on the case.

A Facebook spokesperson did not discuss the story of the New York Times specifically, but he told CNN Business: "It has already been reported that investigations were ongoing at the federal level, including by the Department of Justice. As we said before, we cooperate with investigators and take these investigations seriously. We testified publicly, answered questions and promised that we would continue to do so. "

Last July,

Facebook began to face a growing investigation by the federal government

, with three federal agencies and the Department of Justice, who are studying how the Cambridge Analytica policy consulting firm has obtained the personal data of 87 million Americans.

The company faces a number of scandals and investigations since the revelations of Cambridge Analytica nearly a year ago. Last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company would switch to privacy, focusing more on its messaging platforms and allowing more ephemeral features and encrypted threads.