A state bar review of two attorneys’ roles in an Armenian genocide reprarations case has turned into a formal investigation, the bar announced in a statement released Tuesday.

State bar officials said they are scrutinizing the actions of Mark Geragos and Brian Kabateck, two Los Angeles plaintiffs attorneys who in 2005 secured a $17.5 million settlement with insurance company AXA on behalf of descendants of Armenians killed in the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century.