FINALLY...

ALL the stuff I have BEEN saying about Fannie Mae an them has finally come to light.

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What??? You mean the GOVERNMENT (or one of their agencies) were REALLY to blame for this? Not BUSH, who, by the way, TOLD them when he first came to office that they were going down the wrong track? OMG, I wonder what ELSE them Dems did to destroy but tried to BLAME SOMEONE ELSE? LOL, in a sad way.

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Six former Fannie, Freddie execs charged with fraudPublished Yesterday
David S. Hilzenrath for The Washington Post
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The SEC charged six former executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with securities fraud Friday, saying they misled the public about the companies’ exposure to subprime loans during the onset of the mortgage meltdown.

The executives charged in the civil suits include Daniel H. Mudd, former chairman and chief executive of Fannie Mae, and Richard F. Syron, who held the same positions at Freddie Mac.

The executives are the most prominent individuals the Securities and Exchange Commission has charged for wrongdoing related to the financial crisis, and the charges come at a time when the SEC and the Justice Department are facing criticism for not doing more to hold executives accountable.

The companies themselves were taken over by the government in 2008 and have received billions of dollars of taxpayer money to keep operating. Because Fannie and Freddie are essentially wards of the government, the SEC said it was refraining from prosecuting them.

The companies entered agreements accepting responsibility for their conduct, the SEC said.

Charted by the government, Fannie and Freddie provide funding for mortgage lenders and play a central role in housing finance.

The SEC said it is trying to force the Fannie and Freddie executives to pay fines and give up “ill-gotten gains” and to bar them from serving as officers or directors of public companies.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was,” SEC enforcement director Robert Khuzami said in a statement. “These material misstatements occurred during a time of acute investor interest in financial institutions’ exposure to subprime loans, and misled the market about the amount of risk on the company’s books.”

Also charged with various violations were Enrico Dallevecchia, Fannie’s former chief risk officer; Thomas A. Lund, former executive vice president of Fannie’s single-family mortgage business; Patricia L. Cook, former chief business officer of Freddie Mac; and Donald J. Bisenius, former executive vice president for Freddie’s single family guarantee business.

The SEC alleged that in 2007, when Fannie Mae began reporting its exposure to subprime loans, or loans “made to borrowers with weaker credit histories,” it disclosed less than one-tenth of the total that met that description. The misleading disclosures were made as Fannie’s executives were trying to expand the company’s market share by buying up more subprime and so-called Alt-A loans, the SEC said. Alt-A loans often required no documentation of the borrowers’ income.

At Freddie Mac, Syron and Cook each publicly proclaimed that Freddie’s single-family business had “basically no subprime exposure,” the SEC said. Unbeknownst to investors, the SEC said, the company was at risk for about $141 billion in loans that were described internally as “subprime” or “subprime like,” accounting for 10 percent of the portfolio, the SEC said. That figure grew to about $244 billion, which was 14 percent of the portfolio, by mid-2008, the SEC said.

Earlier this year, the Federal Housing Finance Agency told Congress that taxpayer-backed Fannie and Freddie had paid $50.1 million in taxpayer money for document production related to securities lawsuits and government investigations and had advanced $57.5 million in legal fees to executives and board members for securities lawsuits and investigations.

Lund’s attorney Michael N. Levy said in a statement Friday: “During a period of unprecedented disruption in the housing market, nobody worked more diligently or honestly to serve the best interests of both investors and homeowners. When the truth comes out at trial, it will be abundantly clear that Mr. Lund -- who did not sell a single share of Fannie Mae stock during this entire period -- acted appropriately at all times.”

Lawyers for other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for Fannie Mae said Friday that the company would not comment on the charges against the former executives. A company statement said: “ We are pleased to bring the SEC inquiry to a close. We continue to focus on our priorities of providing critical funding to a fragile housing market, helping distressed homeowners, and helping build a sustainable housing finance system for the future.”

The lawsuits were filed in federal court in Manhattan, where a judge recently refused to accept a settlement between the SEC and Citigroup and challenged the SEC’s standard practice of settling cases without admissions or denials of wrongdoing.

Staff writer Zachary A. Goldfarb contributed to this report.

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Why wasn't Franklin Raines charged I am still baffled on that one.

Skycastle wrote:

Walterth3rd wrote:

Charted by the government, Fannie and Freddie provide funding for mortgage lenders and play a central role in housing finance.

What a mess! Of course, the primary cause of this fiasco is that the feds got involved in something which they are forbidden by the U.S. Constitution from being involved in. Financing housing is NOT a power delegated to the federal government, and is therefore illegal. But who cares about the Constitution anymore?

Walter probably remembers this. When Bush Jr was in office and Bush Sr Reagan matter of fact the democrats would accuse them of being racist for not allowing low income housing saying American Africans cannot afford housing. What were they going to do. The media is on the democrats side at the time well still but you didn't have alternative media really until Clinton came into office.

The democrats painted them into a corner if they do nothing then the media and the democrats portrays them as racist. Not that I agree with what was done I do not. This whole fiasco started with Carter and snowballed until what we have today.

But your right sense when did the Constitution matter to democrats.

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

But your right sense when did the Constitution matter to democrats.

Or to most Republicans, for that matter.

Annoyed wrote:

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

But your right sense when did the Constitution matter to democrats.

Or to most Republicans, for that matter.

I would say it matters to most but there are elements it does not.

Skycastle wrote:

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

Annoyed wrote:

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

But your right sense when did the Constitution matter to democrats.

Or to most Republicans, for that matter.

I would say it matters to most but there are elements it does not.

Actually, if it mattered to most Republicans then they wouldn't be constantly passing unconstitutional legislation, which they do. It's natural to want to think of your favorite team as being mostly good, but they're not. When it comes to obeying the Constitution, they have as much blame for the diseased state of our nation as the Democrats. Seriously, try to name some Republicans who talk about wanting to return our nation to Constitutional rule. Off hand, I can only think of one.

It is what it is.

Skycastle wrote:

Pissedoffvulcan wrote:

It is what it is.

So you agree with me?

I agree to the fact that some republicans RINOs are no different then democrats. I agree the republican party has been infiltrated by democrats.