Free Republic

Longtime President Donald Trump political foe Democrat California Sen. Adam Schiff was referred to the Department of Justice to face criminal prosecution over alleged mortgage fraud that reportedly stretches back years. Schiff, who was elected to the Senate in the 2024 election cycle following decades as a House lawmaker, is under scrutiny after the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) sent a letter to the Department of Justice in May sounding the alarm that in "multiple instances," Schiff allegedly "falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, impacting payments from 2003-2019 for a Potomac, Maryland-based property."...

On Thursday, Chairman of the Board of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Bill Pulte, said Fed Chair Jerome Powell may be criminally referred to the Justice Department for alleged perjury about the $2.5 billion building renovation plan. “I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ for Jay Powell’s alleged perjury about the $2.5BN building,” Pulte said on X. I am told by very reliable Congressional sources that there may be a criminal referral coming from one or more Congress members to the DOJ...

In a shocking new development, President Donald Trump’s longtime political adversary, Democrat Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), is facing criminal prosecution after a bombshell referral from the U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) over alleged mortgage fraud spanning years. The FHFA has formally alerted the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the evidence, triggering an investigation into Schiff’s actions following a series of mortgage-related allegations. Schiff, who was elected to the Senate in 2024 after years of serving as a House lawmaker, is under intense scrutiny after Trump announced the charges earlier this week. It was revealed that between 2003 and 2019,...

"I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist," he said. President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged "justice" for Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., after Fannie Mae's Financial Crimes Division concluded that he engaged in a sustained pattern of possible mortgage fraud. "I have always suspected Shifty Adam Schiff was a scam artist. And now I learn that Fannie Mae’s Financial Crimes Division have concluded that Adam Schiff has engaged in a sustained pattern of possible Mortgage Fraud," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Adam Schiff said that his primary residence was in MARYLAND to get a cheaper mortgage and...

The movie The Big Short—dramatizing the reckless behavior in the banking and mortgage industries that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis—captures much of Wall Street's misconduct but overlooks a central player in the collapse: the federal government, specifically through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These two government-created and government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) encouraged lenders to issue risky home loans by effectively making taxpayers cosign the mortgages. This setup incentivized dangerous lending practices that inflated the housing bubble, eventually leading to catastrophic economic consequences. Another critical but overlooked factor in the collapse was the Community Reinvestment Act. This federal statute was intended...

US mortgage giant, Fannie Mae, has laid off 200 employees, mostly Telugus, over salary fraud, according to a report. The employees allegedly misused the company's matching gift programme by collaborating with Telugu associations. An Indian-American Congressman has sought the company's response on the mass lay-offs.

This is an excellent example of what Attorney General Pam Bondi should be focused on instead of her appearances on Fox News.The Federal Housing and Finance Agency has released a public statement highlighting an internal review and investigation of conduct within Fannie Mae that has resulted in the termination of over 100 employees for “unethical conduct” including the “facilitation of fraud.”If the FHMA is finding intentional fraud within the housing loan offices, those federal employees should be arrested and legally prosecuted for their conduct. It is not enough to just fire people, there has to be legal accountability. These are...

Fannie Mae said Tuesday it fired more than 100 employees for unethical conduct. “Since my swearing-in, we fired over 100 employees from Fannie Mae who we caught engaging in unethical conduct, including facilitating fraud, against our great company,” William J. Pulte, chair of Fannie Mae’s board of directors, said in a statement. “Anyone who commits fraud against Fannie Mae does so against the American people,” he added. In his Tuesday statement, the Pulte said under the Trump administration there would be no room for fraud, mortgage fraud or “any other deceitful act that can jeopardize the safety and soundness of...

...Biden on Friday announced that Cathy Russell, the head of the powerful White House personnel office, would leave to assume the role of executive director of UNICEF.... ...A longtime adviser to the Bidens, Russell served in the White House and State Department during the Obama administration. She was U.S. ambassador for global women’s issues under former President Obama, a role that Biden highlighted in Friday’s announcement....

Why Biden thinks the Chinese Communists are “not bad folks” and “not competition for us.” “Biden Gets China,” headlined the January 2, 2012 report in The Atlantic. As author Steve Clemons explained, “Vice President Joe Biden will take the lead on the administrations next phase China policy.” This marked a shift to a “strategy of engagement with Biden at the top,” that allows the US to deal with China’s likely next president from a Vice President to a Vice President/Next President status -- and to continue both the Departments of State’s and Treasury’s ongoing engagement with other designated key Chinese...

US home sales are headed for the biggest slowdown since 2011, according to Fannie Mae. The government-sponsored mortgage finance company forecasted total home sales to slump to just 4.8 million this year, marking the slowest sales environment since 2011. That figure will only improve slightly in 2024, with total home sales expected to hit 4.9 million, Fannie Mae economists said. The slump in sales is partly being influenced by high mortgage rates, with the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rising to 7.18% over the last week, according to Freddie Mac data. That means prospective home buyers are facing...

A top U.S. regulator is considering taking steps to ease strains on mortgage companies facing a cash crunch as millions of Americans struggling with fallout from the coronavirus suspend their monthly payments, according to people familiar with the matter. The Federal Housing Finance Agency is weighing whether to allow Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled mortgage-finance giants, to buy home loans that recently entered forbearance, meaning borrowers have stopped making payments, the people said. That would help nonbank mortgage companies that lend to home buyers and then quickly sell the loans to Fannie and Freddie. The strategy was upended...

The level of government interference and taxpayer exposure in the housing market has always been a huge problem. Higher education and mortgages have been key weapons of social engineering. The creation of massive amounts of debt and the entanglement of the government and taxpayers in mortgages was a major cause of the last economic meltdown. The solution here is at best incomplete, but it's a reasonable next step. Especially when dealing with 2020 Democrats who would love nothing more than to create another trillion dollar catastrophe by bribing their voters like crazy. The Trump administration on Thursday released its first...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) rolled out a plan to offer grants up to $25,000 to low-income black individuals to help with a down payment and closing costs on home purchases.At first glance, to the economically uninformed, this seems like it's a good idea. We want as many people as possible to own homes for many obvious reasons.Why not subsidize low-income buyers with a $25,000 grant? This would mean that it would be easier to buy a house in a low-income area. The more houses that are bought, the higher the demand, and prices will rise, benefitting everyone.But as with all...

The gatekeepers of the American mortgage market are increasingly backing loans to borrowers who have heavy debt loads, highlighting questions about mortgage risk as policy makers debate ways to change the system. Almost 30% of loans that mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac packaged into bonds last year went to home buyers whose total debt payments amounted to more than 43% of their incomes, according to an analysis by industry research group Inside Mortgage Finance. The share has nearly doubled since 2015. Data on other government mortgage programs also show an increase. The backing of these loans opens up...

Dems Nuked the Filibuster to Confirm Him, Then He Turned to Sexual Harassment Another lingering scandal from Obama’s “scandal-free” administration. February 22, 2019 Daniel Greenfield 16 see comments at FrontPage Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism In the fall of 2013, the Democrats were outraged that Republicans were blocking Obama’s nomination of Rep. Mel Watt to head the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Watt was African-American and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his minions repeatedly tried to associate the move with...

Former federal housing agency director Mel Watt, who represented Charlotte in the U.S. Congress for more than two decades, misused his position to pursue a relationship with a woman working for him, according to a formal inquiry by the agency’s Inspector General. Watt was head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which currently oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from 2014 through January when his five-year term expired. Simone Grimes, a special adviser at the agency, claimed that the 73-year-old Watt sexually harassed her and did not promote her when she declined his advances. Grimes also filed a pay discrimination...

One of the faux scandals to have emerged in this crazy past week was the revelation that in December, President Trump allegedly asked his deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, “Are you on my team?” Opined a trio of reporters from CNN, presumably with a straight face, “The episode is the latest to come to light portraying a President whose inquiries sometimes cross a line that presidents traditionally have tried to avoid when dealing with the Justice Department, for which a measure of independence is key.” Obama White House speechwriter Ben Rhodes was not directly referencing these reporters when he told...

A pair of top Obama-appointed bank regulators still serving in the Trump administration could spark another mortgage meltdown by lowering credit standards and encouraging risky lending practices. Democrat Mel Watt, who is serving a special five-year term as head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, is pushing the mortgage-lending giants he regulates — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — to offer home loans to deadbeat borrowers with shaky credit, setting up conditions for another housing-market crash, industry officials warn. Meanwhile, the other Obama holdover — liberal Democrat Richard Cordray, who continues to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through 2018...

see link in post below