WASHINGTON - Former Fannie Mae Chief Executive Franklin Raines and two top lieutenants were charged with fraud in a civil suit filed last week by federal regulators in connection with the multi-billion dollar accounting scandal that has roiled the secondary mortgage market giant for the past three years.
The suit, filed by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, seeks fines and the return of millions of dollars in bonuses paid to Raines and former chief financial officer Timothy Howard and former controller Leanne Spencer. The civil action asks for more than $110 million in the repayment of bonuses paid to the executives and fines.
Raines and Howard were fired two years ago as the scandal was festering, when evidence emerged that Fannie cooked the books to please Wall Street analysts and to qualify top executives for millions of dollars in bonuses.
The OFHEO field similar charges against top executives of Freddie Mac, including its former CEO Leland Brendsel, who the regulator said was responsible for the multi-billion dollar accounting scandal at that mortgage company.
Ed Roberts can be reached at robertscuj
