Fannie Mae to Pay Millions to Ousted Execs

NewsMax.com ^ | Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2004 | NewsMax

[softengine]

WASHINGTON – Franklin Raines, who was forced out as Fannie Mae's chief executive after five years, is due to receive a pension of $1.3 million a year for life, according to an agreement with the mortgage lending giant.

In documents filed Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Fannie Mae also revealed that Raines has deferred compensation of $8.7 million to be paid out through 2020 and owns more than $5.5 million in the company's stock.

But the deal is not done. Federal regulators have asked Fannie Mae to hold off paying any compensation to Raines until they have time to investigate the package and whether it was appropriate for the federally chartered lender to let Raines retire early rather than be dismissed.

Another point of contention is Raines' retirement date. According to the filing, ``Mr. Raines has asserted'' to Fannie Mae that his retirement is effective June 22, which would enable him to receive an additional $600,000 in salary. That scenario also would add more than $100,000 to Raines' monthly pension payment of $114,393. In the filing, Fannie Mae did not agree to those terms.

Without the disputed amounts, Raines is slated to take home more than $1.3 million annually, plus benefits such as life and health insurance.

Raines was forced out Dec. 21 by Fannie Mae's board of directors, along with Chief Financial Officer Timothy Howard.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, or OFHEO, the company's chief regulator, pressured the board to act after the SEC said the company must make accounting corrections that could erase $9 billion of past profit dating to 2001.

On an interim basis, Raines is being replaced by Daniel H. Mudd, the company's chief operating officer. Robert J. Levin will serve as interim chief financial officer as Fannie Mae works with an outside search firm to find permanent replacements.

According to the filing Monday, Howard will be paid $84,000 in salary through Jan. 31 and receive a monthly pension of $36,071 for the rest of his life. He has more than 480,000 shares in stock options, ranging in value from about $27 to about $81 a share, and deferred compensation of $4 million.

The restatement of possibly $9 billion of past profits could force the company to take a variety of actions to deal with what OFHEO said last week was a ``significantly undercapitalized'' balance sheet, meaning the regulators believe the company lacks the money to cover potential losses.

Fannie Mae and smaller rival Freddie Mac pump money into the home mortgage market. The firms buy and guarantee repayment of billions of dollars of home loans each year from banks and other lenders, then bundle them into securities that are resold to investors. Their stock and debt are held by investors around the world.

[softengine]

Just damn.

[AdamSelene235]

Lie to Congress, falsify earnings, jeopardize the entire financial system and retire with 1.3 million a year for life.

Franklin Delano Raines lives a charmed life.

[Congressman Billybob]

Keep in mind that Fannie Mae was Democrat-infested when this was going on. Recall that Jamie Gorelick (of 9/11 Commission and "the wall on intelligence" fame) was on the Board when this fat contract was given to this corrupt/incompetent Democrat chief executive.

And Gorelick and the other Board members had a reason to prefer that the CEO falsely overstate the income of Fannie Mae. The Board members all got "bonuses for good performance" as a result of those false statistics. It is not just the golden parachute for this worthless executive that stinks in this situation.

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest, "Jon Stewart, You Magnificent B*stard! I Read Your Book!"

[isthisnickcool]

Sometimes I think publically traded companies should have the same kind of agreement with it's executives and boards that Lloyds of London has with it's members. In the event they lose a lot of money their personal financial assets are subject to being taken and sold to cover the losses.

I'm amazed that someone like Martha Stewart us in jail when there are 1,000's of crooks that were involved in the ".com" era pump-and-dump schemes who have never been even scolded by the feds. Not that Martha Stewart is a saint but by gum she made money for her company and it's investors. So she lied to the feds when they lied to her.?Big deal.

Sometimes some things in this country are totally out-of-wack. But darn, it's still a great place ain't it?

[ken5050]

CBB..will the regulators look for disgorgement of the bonuses ..some $20 million..that Raines and his #2 got...since the numbers were rigged?.

[softengine]

And Gorelick and the other Board members had a reason to prefer that the CEO falsely overstate the income of Fannie Mae.

Remarkable how that name continuually surfaces wherever government corruption and collusion is found. Coincidence, I'm sure.

[bugs_dallas]

During the WorldCom debacle the same behavior played out - the ousted CEO awarded himself a $1.1m pension for life which was eventually recinded. The statements about the losses and the fraud began at $3b and gradually worked their way in excess of $9b.

The parallels to WorldCom are incredible.

I expect the losses at Fannie to exceed $27b and the auditor to go down as well.

[Ann Archy]

Raines, Gorelick, et al......THIEVING DEMOCRATS!!!

[Doohickey]

When I get fired from my job, they'll charge me for the cardboard box...

[RippleFire]

bump

[joesnuffy]

Fannie Mae....the other white meat.....I love the smell of pork burning in the morning

[Dr. Scarpetta]

I'm amazed that someone like Martha Stewart is in jail when there are 1,000's of crooks that were involved in the ".com" era pump-and-dump schemes who have never been even scolded by the feds.

I agree. Also, Clinton should be in jail because of the Pardon Scandal.