Charges Filed Against Former Fannie Mae Execs

AP ^ | Monday December 18, 4:58 pm ET | Marcy Gordon, AP Business Writer

[Lunatic Fringe]

U.S. Files Civil Charges Against Former Fannie Mae Chief Raines, Other Top Executives

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government on Monday filed civil charges against former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines and the mortgage giant's former finance chief and controller, seeking fines and the return of millions in bonus money said to be tied to an improper accounting scheme.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight announced that it filed 101 charges against Raines, former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer.

Raines and Howard were swept out of office two years ago in the multibilllion-dollar accounting scandal at the government-sponsored company, which finances one of every five home loans in the United States.

The charges "reveal how the individuals improperly manipulated earnings to maximize their bonuses, while knowingly neglecting accounting systems and internal controls, misapplying over 20 accounting principles, and misleading the regulator and the public," OFHEO Director James B. Lockhart said in a statement.

OFHEO, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, its smaller sibling in the $8 trillion home-mortgage market, last May issued a blistering report alleging a six-year accounting fraud at Washington-based Fannie Mae, the second-largest U.S. financial institution after Citigroup Inc.

The regulators said the scheme included manipulations to reach quarterly earnings targets so that company executives could pocket hundreds of millions in bonuses from 1998 to 2004.

[PGalt]

GRRRRRREAT NEWS!

[Bubba_Leroy]

Franklin Raines was Clinton's Budget Director.

Res Ipsa Loquitur.

[CottShop]

was there anybody who was clean who was connected with the Clintons? My gosh- you'd think with the proliferation of dirty connections- they'd be able to get something on BOTH the Clintons.http://sacredscoop.com

[unixfox]

After reading that post I think I will go throw up now.

[Centurion2000]

The government on Monday filed civil charges against former Fannie Mae chief Franklin Raines and the mortgage giant's former finance chief and controller, seeking fines and the return of millions in bonus money said to be tied to an improper accounting scheme.

Bump for justice ....

[Suzy Quzy]

Jamie Gorelick got a TON of bonus money from Fannie Mae....MAKE HER GIVE IT BACK!!! I'd really rather charges were filed against her.

[Grampa Dave]

I should have posted a Barf Bag Warning label.

[MarkL]

About damned time!

Mark

[Psycho_Bunny]

I still remember the Wall Street Journal flipping out about all the fraud at Fannie Mae in 96 or 97.  No one paid attention until several years later.

And it turns out, they were right on the mark with who was doing what.

[PA-RIVER]

Jamie Gorelick was there for the entire scandal, what a surprise!

101 charges against Raines? Wow, maybe he'd like to talk a little and cut a deal .... HA HA HA !!!!!

Jamie Gorlick, get out of the country while you still can :)

[PA-RIVER]

Great tagline, and so true.

Gorelick makes me want to puke too. I hope they nail her next, and real soon.

[Bubba_Leroy]

was there anybody who was clean who was connected with the Clintons?

Yeah, but they are all dead.

[CottShop]

lol go figure, huh? Amazing how they all kinda just dropped liek flies, committing suicide and all by cutting off their own heads, shooting themselves in the back, and the back of the head, etc http://sacredscoop.com

[FlyVet]

And may all the corrupt governmentites burn just as brightly. Get rid of them all.

(Well, wait....if we burn them all, there will be few left :P)

[oldironsides]

I have been waiting for this for a long time. I thought the creeps would walk away from it. I hope they go to jail for a long time. Culture of corruption indeed.

[MinuteGal]

The tentacles of the well-connected Gorelick are everywhere in the interlocking directorships world of powerful corporations.

She has a powerful protector and ally and we all know who he is.

He also has a powerful protector and ally in HER.

Let's see if the Big 'Toon can shield her in this particular case. She'll not be indicted unless she's really ratted out by other boardroom members or company executives..

But of course, these corrupt personages will have visions of Ft. Marcy Park dancing in their heads and Madame Jamie will again tiptoe through the snowflakes into the sunshine.

Leni

[MinuteGal]

I hope they leave Raines alone for a little while. Instead, concentrate on flipping the weaker of the two other lesser lights.

Then, it'll be easier to work Raines over and get him to finger Gorelick, if she's legally or morally culpable in any way.

(......and I'll bet she is. Conspiracy at the most, venality and greed at the least).

Leni

[MinuteGal]

The brains of Raines stay mainly in the drains.

Leni

[Lexinom]

While the Clinton tie does carry some schadenfreude, I'm just glad whenever I see a huge bank or finance company - getting wealthy by changing the rules and raping struggling families with their usury - get their own. Personally I would not have any objection to rounding up every corrupt executive of every huge bank or mortgage company, lining them up against a brick wall, and... (use your imagination).