NEW YORK (Reuters) - The general counsel for UBS AG's (UBSN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) investment banking unit is at the center of a civil probe by New York's attorney-general into the Swiss bank's sales of auction-rate securities, the Wall Street Journal reported.

David Aufhauser is the person described in New York AG Andrew Cuomo's case against UBS as "Executive A," the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The New York AG's office and UBS were not available immediately for comment.

Aufhauser hasn't been named by Cuomo and ultimately bought some securities back, the Journal noted, adding that he has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Aufhauser was formerly the general counsel to the Treasury Department, the Journal reported.

Last week, Cuomo sued UBS, accusing it of committing a "multi-billion dollar fraud" by steering clients into auction-rate securities that became impossible to sell once the credit market tightened.

The lawsuit said at least seven UBS executives dumped $21 million in auction-rate securities held in personal accounts as the credit market began showing signs of trouble, and that the bank continued to sell those securities.

UBS has said it conducted an internal probe of alleged sales of personal holdings of auction-rate debt by its executives and found no wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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