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COLUMBUS — Ohio Friday became the second state to go after the big-three credit-rating agencies for allegedly “aiding and abetting’’ Wall Street in convincing investors that shaky mortgage-backed securities were safe.

“Investors trust that information when making extremely important decisions,’’ said Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray. “But unfortunately the rating agencies recently shirked their responsibilities, sparking worldwide economic distress. Nowhere has this been felt more acutely than in Ohio.’’

The Democratic attorney general filed suit against Moody’s, Fitch, and Standard & Poor’s in U.S. District Court in Columbus on behalf of four state pension funds providing benefits for teachers, police, firefighters, and other school and government employees.

Unlike a number of other Wall Street lawsuits in which Ohio has been one of a number of plaintiffs, this suit is based on Ohio law and is not intended to become a class action involving other states.

To date, only California has filed a similar lawsuit under its own law.

The big-three Wall Street entities, which assign ratings to investments to reflect their risk, have successfully fended off litigation in the past with the argument that their opinions are protected free speech under the First Amendment.

“It’s one thing to simply offer an opinion,’’ Mr. Cordray said. “That might well be protected by the First Amendment. When you are actively working with the issuers to figure out how to package the securities, to massage them in order to get to a rating, we believe you are a participant in the business at that point.’’

The lawsuit alleges that the credit-rating agencies relaxed their usual standards and accepted fees from security issuers to structure the bundled-mortgage investments to garner the best possible rating. These packages eventually contained loans that were questionably issued in the first place. As the housing bubble burst and foreclosures skyrocketed, the value of the investments plummeted.

“In other words, the credit rating agencies sold out, and they sold us out,’’ Mr. Cordray said. “They traded in their objectivity and in exchange received massive profits.’’

Frank Briamonte, spokesman for S&P parent McGraw-Hill Companies, said the claim has no merit.

“We intend to defend ourselves vigorously against it,’’ he said. “A recent [Securities Exchange Commission] examination of our business practices found no evidence that decisions about ratings methodologies or models were based on attracting or losing market share.’’

Fitch officials offered no comment, saying they hadn’t seen the lawsuit. Moody’s did not return a call for comment.

A former state treasurer, Mr. Cordray said he was suspicious of the value of the investments. But investment decisions of pension funds are made by the funds, and Mr. Cordray estimated they lost a combined $457 million from their investment portfolios.

He said the funds should have been able to trust the AAA or equivalent ratings the agencies had affixed to the investments.

Contact Jim Provance at:jprovance@theblade.comor 614-221-0496.

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